The Dove and the Serpent: So in Love with You
by thesituation016
Summary: PT: 2 Vanessa better know as the Dove is entering the next phase in her life helping her father become a hero himself while enjoying her budding relationship with Loki.(This is a cross over between X-men 1-3, Fantastic Four 1 with a Fantastic Four 2 cameo, Ghost Rider cameo, Spider-man and Daredevil mention, Iron Man 1-3, Thor 1-2, and Avengers.)
1. Chapter 1

-0-

Vanessa sat curled up in the seat of the jet starring unseeingly out the window. Pepper had come and gotten her. She had stayed with Vanessa for two weeks after she learned of her father's disappearance at the school. She had been too unstable to move before hand, being prone to episodes of telekinetic outbursts.

Loki had helped a lot spending every night holding her and giving her comforting words. He was keeping her stable, keeping her from falling apart. He had wanted to come down in person, but he just wasn't able. In her arms she clutched her journal close to her heart thinking over everything.

"Vanessa." Pepper said softly as she sat down next to her. Vanessa didn't say anything, curling up a little tighter. Pepper didn't know what to say so the just pulled Vanessa into a hug which she gratefully accepted.

They didn't speak the entire plane ride and as soon as it landed they were attacked by reporters from every angle as they tried to get to their car. Vanessa was getting angry and in a subtle release of her power a way opened up in front of them as reporters 'tripped' away and they made it to the car without further incident. Pepper called ahead and made sure that the house was clear even going so far as to set the sprinklers on them before the police got there.

That night found Vanessa unable to sleep as she starred up at the ceiling of her room still crying. She had tried to make contact with some of the other telepaths she knew, but could reach none of them, not that they'd be able to help her anyway. Only the Professor had been strong enough to use Cyrebro properly. She kicked her covers off and got out of bed.

"Is there anything I can do for you Vanessa?" JARVIS asked softly.

"No." Vanessa said emotionlessly. She walked out of her room down the hall and into her father's room. The lights turned on instantly and on his bed she saw one of his favorite ACDC shirts.

She walked over and picked it up pressing her face into it a she inhaled his scent, a mix of motor oil and sandalwood. She climbed into bed holding his shirt to her chest and curling up into a tight ball. The lights turned off as she laid there tears streaming down her face hugging the shirt to her as tightly as she could.

She spent every night in his room and refused to leave the house for anything. She had JARVIS on full alert only allowing Pepper, Rhodey, and Happy into the house anyone else fell to JARVIS's interesting methods of pest removal. Everyone wanted to know if she would take over for her father and other such things.

Her friends from school came to visit for a while, but had to return home. They did everything to try and cheer her up, but nothing pulled her out of her depression. When she was able to fall asleep Loki was always there waiting for her. He had managed to come to visit her in person as well, but even he wasn't able to bring her out of her sadness. He would hold her in his arms stroking her hair as he talked softly to her, but eventually he had to return home before he was missed. Reed, Sue, Ben, Alicia, and Johnny Storm were doing everything they could to help as did Johnny Blaze, but nothing could bring her out of it.

Vanessa rolled out of her dad's bed groaning at the prospect of another day knowing that the others would want her to come out of the house. She walked to her room and into her bathroom taking a brief shower then pulled on a black off the shoulder tight sleeved black sweater and a pair of jeans. She put her wet hair into a messy bun to get it out of her way.

She caught sight of herself in the mirror and looked at the bags under her eyes. She could never stay asleep for long, only ever finding peace when Loki was there. Pepper had made sure that she ate regularly or she would have wasted away to nothing.

"Vanessa you are receiving a call from Rhodey." JARVIS said.

"Put him through." Vanessa said as she sat on the edge of her bed and pulled her socks on.

"Hey kiddo, miss me?" Vanessa froze her eyes going wide.

"Dad?" Vanessa said quietly then started to sob. "Oh my…dad is that…dad…"

"Hey calm down, I'm ok. I'm on my way home now." Tony said gently.

"I thought…they told me…" Vanessa said covering her mouth with her hands.

"Well I'm not and I'll be landing at the airfield soon. Pepper and Happy are on their way to pick you up now, Rhodey called them." Tony said then paused for a moment before continuing. "I missed you."

"I missed you to dad. I love you so much." Vanessa said as she ran and pulled her boots on.

"I love you to Vanessa." Tony said before he had to hang up. Vanessa ran down the hall and outside to where Happy was pulling into the drive way. She didn't even wait for him to slow down before she jumped into the back seat.

"I don't care how many laws you break Happy, get us there now." Vanessa said urgently.

"I'm on it." Happy said slamming down on the gas and peeling out of the drive way.


	2. Chapter 2

Vanessa and Pepper gripped tightly to each other's hands as they watched the plane land and the back open up.

"Watch it, coming up here." Rhodey said as he helped Tony down out of the back of the plane as a medical team came up with a stretcher.

"Are you kidding me with this?" Tony said waving them away. "Get rid of them."

Vanessa couldn't take it anymore. She ran forward and wrapped her arms around Tony who hugged her back pulling her close.

"I thought I lost you." Vanessa said as they clung to each other.

"Well you didn't." He replied as he kissed the top of her head. They walked the rest of the way over to Pepper keeping their arms around each other. "Your eyes are red. A few tears for your long-lost boss?"

"Tears of joy. I hate job hunting." Pepper said with a smile.

"Yeah, vacation's over." Tony said as they all piled into the car, Vanessa sitting between Pepper and Tony. Tony wrapped his arm around her holding her close to his side.

"Where to, sir?" Happy asked.

"Take us to the hospital, please, Happy." Pepper said.

"No." Tony said shaking his head.

"No? Tony, you have to go to the hospital. The doctor has to look at you." Pepper said sternly.

"I don't have to do anything." Tony said bristling a little. "I've been in captivity for three months. There are two things I want to do. I want an American cheeseburger, and the other..."

"That's enough of that." Pepper cut him off.

"...is not what you think. I want you to call for a press conference now." Tony continued.

"Call for a press conference?" Vanessa asked looking up at him in confusion.

"Yeah." Tony said nodding his head.

"What on earth for?" Pepper asked.

"Hogan, drive. Cheeseburger first." Tony ordered as they took off.

-0-

"Look at this! Tony." Obadiah said as he walked up to the car. Tony stepped out eating a cheeseburger as Obadiah put his arm around him. "We were going to meet at the hospital."

"No, I'm fine." Tony said waving him off as he took Vanessa's hand in his refusing to let go. His grip was almost painful, but Vanessa was clinging to him just as tightly.

"Look at you!" Obadiah kept saying. "You had to have a burger, yeah?"

"Priorities." Vanessa said with a smile having made Pepper extremely happy when she had eaten a cheeseburger of her own free will.

"Well, come on." Tony said as he made his way to the building through the clapping crowd.

"You get me one of those?" Obadiah asked motioning to the cheeseburger.

"There's only one left. I need it." Tony replied tugging Vanessa along with him as they entered the building and walked into the press room. He finally had to let her go and walked to the front sending her smile over his shoulder. She stayed in the back with Pepper watching the going on's.

"Hey, look who's here! Yeah!" Obadiah said as he stepped up onto the stage.

"Miss Potts?" A very familiar voice said.

"Yes." Pepper said turning around to face the Agent.

"Can I speak to you for a moment?" He asked sending Vanessa a quick smile.

"I'm not part of the press conference, but it's about to begin right now." Pepper said motioning to the front.

"He's not a reporter." Vanessa said crossing her arms giving him an amused smile. "He's agent Phil Coulson, with the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division."

"That's quite a mouthful." Pepper said shooting Vanessa a confused look wondering how she knew this man.

"I know." Phil said still smiling. "We're working on it."

"And you two know each other?" Pepper asked looking between Vanessa and Phil.

"His…organization has invested its interest in my old school." Vanessa said with shrug.

"You know, we've been approached already by the DOD, the FBI, the CIA..." Pepper listed off.

"We're a separate division with a more specific focus." Phil cut her off. "We need to debrief Mr. Stark about the circumstances of his escape."

"I'll put something in the book, shall I?" Pepper said with a tight smile sensing Vanessa's discomfort.

"Thank you." Phil said as Pepper turned back to the press conference.

"What are you really doing here?" Vanessa asked with a curious look at the agent making sure that Pepper couldn't hear.

"You're father escaped from a terrorist camp all by himself with little to no injuries." Phil said still smirking. "We need to know how."

Vanessa looked him in the eye before nodding briefly and turning back to where her father was sitting in front of the podium. She raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Hey, would it be all right if everyone sat down?" Tony said and everyone slowly sat to the ground shooting confused looks all around. "Why don't you just sit down? That way you can see me, and I can... A little less formal and..."

"What's up with the love-in?" Rhodey asked coming up behind Vanessa and Pepper.

"Don't look at me." Pepper said with a shrug. Rhodey looked over to Vanessa.

"I don't know what he's up to either." Vanessa said with a shrug.

"Good to see you." Tony said looking over to Obadiah.

"Good to see you." Obadiah replied putting hand on his shoulder.

"I never got to say goodbye to Dad." Tony said and Vanessa felt her heart clench at the very thought that had been running through her head for the past three months. "I never got to say goodbye to my father. There are questions that I would have asked him. I would have asked him how he felt about what this company did. If he was conflicted, if he ever had doubts or maybe he was every inch the man we all remember from the newsreels. I saw young Americans killed by the very weapons I created to defend them and protect them. And I saw that I had become part of a system that is comfortable with zero accountability."

"Mr. Stark!" The reporters called out.

"Hey, Ben." Tony said pointing to a young man in the front.

"What happened over there?" Ben asked.

"I had my eyes opened. I came to realize that I have more to offer this world than just making things that blow up." Tony said as he began to stand up. "And that is why, effective immediately, I am shutting down the weapons manufacturing division of Stark International until such a time as I can decide what the future of the company will be." The crowd erupted in questions and yells. Vanessa, Pepper, and Rhodey exchanged shocked looks at the announcement. "I think we're gonna be selling a lot of newspapers. What direction it should take, one that I'm comfortable with and is consistent with the highest good for this country, as well."

The crowd started to shoot off questions as Obadiah took the mike and Tony walked away grabbing Vanessa's hand again as he walked by.

"What we should take away from this is that Tony's back!" Obadiah said trying to cover up. "And he's healthier than ever. We're going to have a little internal discussion and we'll get back to you with the follow-up."

"Obadiah's not going to like this." Vanessa said as they got back into the car and Tony told Happy to drive to the Arc Reactor. They got out of the car and walked inside looking up at the reactor. "So you're being especially cryptic as you bring me out here to the largest eco-friendly battery known to mankind."

"Vanessa, I'm planning something big and I'm going to need your help." Tony said as he un-buttoned his shirt and showed her the mini Arc Reactor.

"Is that what I think it is?!" Vanessa said in shock.

"Yeah." Tony said and explained how he came about making it as he buttoned his shirt back up.

"Holy crap." Vanessa breathed out. "What are you planning?"

"Well, that... That went well." Obadiah said as he walked in interrupting them before he could explain.

"Did I just paint a target on the back of my head?" Tony asked.

"Your head? What about my head?" Obadiah asked before turning to Vanessa. "I need to talk to your dad for a bit, can you give us a moment?"

"Sure, I'll go and hang out with Happy." Vanessa said as she walked out after giving her dad a quick hug before giving Obadiah fake stern look. "You better not kill him Obi, I just go him back."

Obadiah chuckled a little and watched her until she was out the door.

"What do you think the over-under on the stock drop is gonna be tomorrow?" Obadiah asked getting straight back on point.

"Optimistically, 40 points." Tony said.

"At minimum." Obadiah said.

"Yep." Tony replied.

"Tony, we're a weapons manufacturer." Obadiah argued.

"Obie, I just don't want a body count to be our only legacy." Tony shot back.

"That's what we do. We're iron mongers. We make weapons." Obadiah said in frustration.

"It's my name on the side of the building." Tony said.

"And what we do keeps the world from falling into chaos." Obadiah continued.

"Not based on what I saw." Tony bit out. "We're not doing a good enough job. We can do better. We're gonna do something else."

"Like what? You want us to make baby bottles?" Obadiah snapped.

"I think we should take another look into arc reactor technology." Tony answered.

"Come on. The arc reactor, that's a publicity stunt!" Obadiah said gesturing to the massive machine. "Tony, come on. We built that thing to shut the hippies up!"

"It works." Tony said.

"Yeah, as a science project." Obadiah said. "The arc was never cost effective. We knew that before we built it. Arc reactor technology, that's a dead end, right?"

"Maybe." Tony said evasively.

"Am I right? We haven't had a breakthrough in that in what?" Obadiah pressed. "Thirty years."

"That's what they say." Tony said before looking straight into Obadiah's face. "Could you have a lousier poker face? Just tell me, who told you?"

"Never mind who told me. Show me." Obadiah ordered.

"It's Rhodey or Pepper." Tony said.

"I want to see it." Obadiah pressed.

"Okay, Rhodey." Tony said unbuttoning his shirt and showing it to Obadiah.

"Okay." Obadiah said with a smile as he buttoned the shirt back up.

"Okay?" Tony said with a raised eyebrow. "It works."

"Listen to me, Tony. We're a team. Do you understand?" Obadiah said. "There's nothing we can't do if we stick together, like your father and I."

"I'm sorry I didn't give you a heads-up, okay?" Tony said. "But if I had..."

"Tony." Obadiah cut him off. "Tony, no more of this "ready, fire, aim" business. You understand me?"

"That was Dad's line." Tony grumbled.

"You gotta let me handle this." Obadiah said. "We're gonna have to play a whole different kind of ball now. We're going to have to take a lot of heat. I want you to promise me that you're gonna lay low."


	3. Chapter 3

Vanessa walked down to her dad's workshop a computer pad in her hand. It had been about three days since he had gotten home and they had started on his project.

"Hey, Butterfingers, come here. What's all this stuff doing on top of my desk? That's my phone, that's a picture of me and my dad. Right there. In the garbage. All that stuff." She heard Tony saying as Pepper came walking over to her.

"Pepper? What's that smell?" Vanessa asked causing Tony to let out a bark of laughter. She looked down and saw what was in Pepper's hand and what was covering them. "Oh ew."

"I'm going back upstairs." Pepper said in an annoyed voice walking past her.

"So did you get the stuff?" Tony asked as she walked over.

"Yep, it's all on order and should be here tomorrow morning." Vanessa said showing him the checklist.

"Great." Tony said rubbing his hands together.

"Did you really have Pepper change out your reactors?" Vanessa asked sitting down in a swivel chair.

"Well you weren't here and I needed someone with small hands." Tony said as he started to tinker with designs.

"That must have been funny." Vanessa said as she twirled in the chair.

"I got zapped twice and went into cardiac arrest." Tony deadpanned.

"See, I miss all the good stuff." Vanessa said slowly coming to a stop.

"Your concern is touching." Tony muttered. "I'm going to go visit Rhodey, want to come?"

"No thanks, I'm good." Vanessa said hoping up. "I still have a few more things to order through different channels in order to keep this secret."

"I am both amazed and concerned about how you know how to do this." Tony said as he started to walk up stairs.

"Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies." Vanessa replied walking back up stairs.

-0-

Vanessa was sitting on the couch reading when her dad came home.

"So is Rhodey coming?" Vanessa asked not looking up from her book.

"Nope." Tony said grabbing her book and throwing it on the coffee table ignoring her protests. "Come on, we got work to do."

"I'll make coffee." Vanessa said with a world weary sigh as he pulled her down to the work room basement.

"Jarvis, you up?" Tony said as he sat down in front of his console of computers.

"For you, sir, always." JARVIS replied. "I'd like to open a new project file, index as Mark Two."

"Shall I store this on the Stark Industries Central Database?" JARVIS asked.

"Actually, I don't know who to trust right now." Tony said as he messed around with files until he found the one he wanted. Vanessa stood looking over his shoulder as he worked. "Till further notice, why don't we just keep everything on my private server?"

"Working on a secret project, are we, sir?" JARVIS asked.

"I don't want this winding up in the wrong hands." Tony said as he pulled up a holographic image of a suit and started to pick it apart. "Maybe in mine, it can actually do some good."

"That's how you escaped?" Vanessa asked looking over the suit.

"Yep." Tony said with a nod.

"Wow, all that came together in a hole in the ground." Vanessa said standing up straight and crossing her arms. "You're smarter than I gave you credit for."

"You're confidence is overwhelming." Tony said with a role of his eyes. He started to work on the leg jets with the help of Dummy while Vanessa made plans for the next part of the suit on the holographic projector. "Next. Up. Not in the boot, Dummy. Right here. You got me? Stay put. Nice."

"I'm making a targeting system that can determine between threat and victim." Vanessa said as she worked. "What think you?"

"Good." Tony said. "I want some things that have a great impact, but they need to fit in a sleek suit."

"I think I can come up with a few interesting things." Vanessa replied with a smile.

"Awesome." Tony said then grumbled at Dummy. "You're of no benefit at all. Move down to the toe. I got this. Okay, I'm sorry, am I in your way? Up. Screw it. Don't even move. You are a tragedy."

"Be nice." Vanessa said not looking away from her work. Tony didn't reply, but continued to grumbled as he finished up. He slipped into the metal boots that hooked up to his reactor and stood in the middle of the room.

"Okay, let's do this right. Start mark, half a meter and back and center." Tony said the turned to Dummy. "Dummy, look alive. You're on standby for fire safety. You, roll it. Okay. Activate hand controls. We're gonna start off nice and easy. We're gonna see if 10% thrust capacity achieves lift."

"Dad, I think you need start lower than ten." Vanessa said as she looked over the information.

"I'll be fine." Tony said as he braced himself.

"You're going to hurt yourself." Vanessa said, but he of course ignored her.

"And three, two, one." He went flying backwards into a wall then slammed into the ground with a thud followed by Dummy using the fire extinguisher on him.

"Dad?!" Vanessa yelled as she ran over to him shooing Dummy away. "Are you ok?"

"You could have caught me you know." Tony grumbled causing Vanessa to roll her eyes and walked away. "Hey, I'm still down here…Vanessa…hello?"

-0-

"Hold still." Vanessa snapped as she fit the arm stabilizers onto him.

"Hurry up." Tony groused.

"Quit fidgeting and maybe I could." Vanessa snapped harder. He finally managed to hold still long enough for her to snap it on. "There, almost done."

"Up two." Tony said as he lifted his arm. "All right, set that."

"Got it." Vanessa said making sure everything was secure.

"I've been buzzing you." Pepper said as she walked in carrying a mail, a brown box, and coffee. "Did you hear the intercom?"

"Yeah, everything's... What?" Tony said distractedly.

"Obadiah's upstairs." Pepper said.

"Did he bring Pizza?" Vanessa asked and Pepper nodded.

"Great!" Tony replied.

"What would you like me to tell him?" Pepper asked.

"Great. I'll be right up." Tony said not really paying attention.

"Okay." Pepper said then noticed what he was doing. "I thought you said you were done making weapons."

"It's not a weapon." Vanessa said stepping back next to Pepper.

"This is a flight stabilizer. It's completely harmless." Tony said as he aimed it at the opposite wall.

"Ok, take it slow this…" Before Vanessa got a chance to finish he fired it up and the kick back sent him into the wall behind him. "…time."

"I didn't expect that." Tony said with a shocked groan. Vanessa rolled her eyes before turning and going upstairs followed by Pepper to eat grumbling under her breath.

-0-

"Hey Nessa." Obadiah said from the piano.

"Hey Obi." Vanessa said as she walked over giving him a quick hug before moving over to the pizza and grabbing a few slices before sitting down next to Pepper.

"How'd it go?" Tony asked as he came up then saw the pizza. "It went that bad, huh?"

"Just because I brought pizza back from New York doesn't mean it went bad." Obadiah said continuing to play.

"Sure doesn't." Tony said as he sat down on the couch next to Vanessa. "Oh, boy."

"It would have gone better if you were there." Obadiah said walking over to them.

"You told me to lay low. That's what I've been doing." Tony defended himself. "I lay low, and you take care of all..."

"Hey, come on. In public. The press." Obadiah said. "This was a board of directors meeting."

"This was a board of directors meeting?" Tony said in fake shock.

"The board is claiming you have posttraumatic stress." Obadiah said. "They're filing an injunction."

"A what?" Vanessa said sitting up straight.

"They want to lock you out." Obadiah said looking directly at Tony.

"Why, 'cause the stocks dipped 40 points?" Tony asked. "We knew that was gonna happen."

"Fifty-six and a half." Pepper said and Vanessa let out a low whistle.

"It doesn't matter." Tony said shooting her look. "We own the controlling interest in the company."

"Tony, the board has rights, too." Obadiah said. "They're making the case that you and your new direction isn't in the company's best interest."

"I'm being responsible! That's a new direction for me…" Realizing what he said Tony tried to cover. "for the company. I mean, me on the company's behalf being responsible for the way that... This is great."

"Oh, come on. Tony." Obadiah said as Tony got up with the pizza and started to walk back down to the shop. "Tony."

"Come on Nessa, break times over." Tony called out to her over his shoulder. Groaning Vanessa got back to her feet.

"There are laws against this kind of over working." Vanessa grumbled. He had been at this project almost non-stop since they had started.

"We'll be in the shop." Tony said ignoring her.

"Hey, hey! Hey, Tony." Obadiah said as he walked up to them. "Listen. I'm trying to turn this thing around, but you gotta give me something."

"Like…?" Vanessa prompted.

"Something to pitch them." Obadiah said giving a significant look at Tony's arc reactor. "Let me have the engineers analyze that. You know, draw up some specs."

"No." Tony said shaking his head. "No, absolutely not."

"It'll give me a bone to throw the boys in New York!" Obadiah said.

"This one stays with me." Tony said. "That's it, Obie. Forget it."

"All right, well, this stays with me, then." Obadiah said taking the pizza box back. "Go on, here, you can have a piece, take two."

"Thank you." Tony said taking some pizza to go as he walked down the stairs with Vanessa.

"You mind if I come down there and see what you're doing?" Obadiah called out to them.

"Good night, Obie." They said together.


	4. Chapter 4

Vanessa and Loki slowly circled each other waiting for an opportunity to strike. Ever since Alcatraz Loki insisted on teaching more advanced fighting methods. She was coming along quite nicely.

Loki lunged at her and the dodged then the dance really began each trying to bring the other down. Loki tried to hook her legs, but she managed to roll out of the way. She threw a few punches, but Loki caught on of her hands and whirled her around so her back was pressed to his chest.

"You're getting better." He said his breath tickling her neck as his lips glided across her skin.

She reached back squeezing his side causing him to loosen his grip with a yelp. She slipped out grabbing his arm as she spun behind him pinning his arm against his back then swiped his legs out from under him so he was face down on the ground.

"Thanks, I had a good teacher." Vanessa said letting her lips brush his ear. Loki flipped them over to her arms were pinned over her head and he was straddling her.

"Very good indeed." He said with a smirk as he leaned down and kissed her slowly and deeply, lingering quite a while before standing to his feet and pulling her up with him. "I think five sparring lessons is enough for one night."

"You're just saying that because you knew I was about to turn the tables on you." Vanessa said as they sat down beneath a tall tree.

"You caught me." Loki said in a fake guilty voice as he fell over so his head was resting in her lap. "You're just too strong for me."

"You are such a dork." Vanessa said with a laugh as she started to run her hand through his hair.

"That may be, but I'm your dork." Loki muttered, enjoying the feeling of her hands running through his hair.

"And don't you forget it." Vanessa said.

"Wouldn't dream of it." Loki said. "So how is your father doing?"

"Really well." Vanessa said then explained the suit they were making. "I think he wants to be a superhero or something."

"With your father's ego I would not be surprised." Loki said then yelped when Vanessa thumped him on the head.

"Hey don't talk about my dad like that." Vanessa said in a fake stern voice.

"You're the one that told me about his ego." Loki defended himself.

"Well I can say stuff like that, he's my dysfunctional dad." Vanessa said with a smirk as Loki let out a soft chuckle. "So when are you coming for another visit?"

"Soon little dove, very soon." Loki said taking her hand and kissing her palm.


	5. Chapter 5

"Day 11, test 37, configuration 2.0. For lack of a better option, Dummy is still on fire safety. If you douse me again, and I'm not on fire, I'm donating you to a city college." Tony said sternly as he stood in the middle of the room stabilizers ready.

"Don't listen to him D, I would never let him do that." Vanessa said with a smile as she typed away on the computer.

"Traitor." Tony grumbled before getting ready. "All right, nice and easy. Seriously, just gonna start off with 1% thrust capacity."

"That's right, he can be taught." Vanessa said, but Tony ignored her.

"And three, two, one." He hovered above the ground by a few inched for a while before landing again. "Okay. Please don't follow me around with it, either, 'cause I feel like I'm gonna catch on fire spontaneously."

"Just stand down D! If something happens, then come in." Vanessa said. "Ready for part two?"

"Yeah, let's bring it up to 2.5." Tony said and Vanessa nodded. "Three, two, one."

He rose into the air the thrusters going and he started to move around the room scattering papers and generally causing a mess. Then he started toward the cars, the really expensive cars and Vanessa's favorite bike.

"Dad, not the bike!" Vanessa said as her hands gripped her head on either side.

"Okay, this is where I don't want to be!" Tony said as he made strange negative noises as he flew over the vehicles, luckily he missed her bike. "Not the car, not the car! Table!"

"Use the stabilizers." Vanessa yelled and Tony threw his hands up before he ran into the wall and came back to the mat.

"Could be worse! Could be worse! We're fine! Okay." Tony said and finally he brought his legs together and locked his hand palm down at his sides stabilizing himself. The he descended and landed almost falling over before he steadied himself. "Yeah, I can fly."

"Now what?" Vanessa asked and Tony smiled over at her and she could feel a head ache coming on. "Oh boy." She watched as he got suited up in the silver armor while she typed in the information and protocols into the system. "JARVIS should now automatically sync up to the suit."

"Jarvis, are you there?" Tony asked as he put the final piece, the mask plate, on.

"At your service, sir." JARVIS said.

"Engaging Heads Up Display." Vanessa said.

"Check." Tony replied. "Import all preferences from home interface."

"Will do." Vanessa said as she typed.

"All right, what do you say?" Tony said.

"I have indeed been uploaded, sir." JARVIS confirmed. "We're online and ready."

"Can we start the virtual walk-around?" Tony asked.

"Importing preferences and calibrating virtual environment." Vanessa said with a nod.

"Do a check on control surfaces." Tony told JARVIS

"As you wish. Test complete." JARVIS said. "Preparing to power down and begin diagnostics."

"Yeah. Tell you what. Do a weather and ATC check." Tony said making Vanessa's head snap up.

"Dad." She said warningly.

"Start listening in on ground control." Tony kept on.

"Dad." Vanessa said a little more sternly. "What you are currently thinking of doing is a very bad idea."

"Sir, there are still terabytes of calculations needed before an actual flight is..." JARVIS started to say.

"Vanessa! Jarvis! Sometimes you got to run before you can walk." Tony said as Vanessa ran her hands through her hair.

"Fine." Vanessa said and really got to work. She took an earpiece and put it into her ear.

"Ready?" Tony asked.

"Let's make it happen captain." Vanessa said.

"In three, two, one." Tony hovered for a moment then rocketed down the tunnel and up into the air. "WWWWHHHHHOOOOOOO! Handles like a dream."

"Of course it does, I helped make it." Vanessa said as she watched the screens like she was in first person view. His wild flying was kind of making her dizzy.

"All right, let's see what this thing can do. What's SR-71's record?" Tony asked.

"The altitude record for fixed wing flight is 85,000 feet, sir." JARVIS answered. Vanessa shook her head as she watched him.

"Records are made to be broken! Come on!" Tony said as he climbed.

"Sir, there is a potentially fatal buildup of ice occurring." JARVIS warned.

"Keep going!" Tony orderd.

"Dad, come back down, you'll short out if you don't." Vanessa ordered into her comm.

"Higher!" Tony said once again ignoring her then he cut out.

"Dad? DAD!" Vanessa said as she furiously tapped on the computer.

"We iced up, Jarvis! Deploy flaps! Jarvis!" Tony yelled. "Come on, we got to break the ice!"

He manually deployed the flaps and managed to reboot almost running into cars on the high way as he flew back up into the air.

"Dad." Vanessa called out.

"I'm here, I'm fine." Tony said with a laugh.

"You're a freaking idiot, that's what you are." Vanessa snapped falling back in her chair. "Hurry up and get home."

"On my way." Tony said still laughing. "Kill power."

Vanessa heard a series of thuds until her dad crashed through the ceiling landing on a car reducing it to scrap. She sat there in shock for a moment as dummy sprayed him down. Shaking her head she took her ear piece out and began to walk upstairs.

"I'm going now." Vanessa said. "I have plans for tonight that don't involve scraping you off the cement."

Tony watched her do before his head fell back against the car.

-0-

Vanessa listened as she descended back down the stairs to check on her dad after she finished getting ready for the night.

"Notes. Main transducer feels sluggish at plus 40 altitude. Hull pressurization is problematic. I'm thinking icing is the probable factor." Tony listed off.

"A very astute observation, sir." JARVIS said. "Perhaps, if you intend to visit other planets, we should improve the exosystems."

"Connect to the sys. co. Have it reconfigure the shell metals. Use the gold titanium alloy from the seraphim tactical satellite. That should ensure a fuselage integrity while maintaining power-to-weight ratio." Vanessa said with a smile as she walked into the basement. Her dad did a double take and Vanessa raised an eyebrow. "Got it?"

"Yes, yeah, I mean that's what I was about to say." Tony said looking slightly confused at her apparel.

Vanessa wore an elegant emerald green color sweetheart fit and flare appliques front slit mermaid style evening gown. She wore a pair of diamond studs, her dove necklace, her charm bracelet, and a pair of silver strappy high heels.

She left her hair completely loose parted in the middle and it hung down to her hips ending in loose curls. Her make-up was light and smoky making her eyes pop with a touch of shimmering lip gloss to complete her look.

"Shall I render using proposed specifications?" JARVIS asked.

"Thrill me." Tony said before turning back to Vanessa. "You got a date tonight or something?"

"Or something." Vanessa said motioning to the TV as she walked over to stand behind him.

"Tonight's red-hot red carpet is right here at the Disney Concert Hall, where Tony Stark's third annual benefit for the Firefighter's Family Fund has become the place to be for L.A.'s high society." The reporter on the TV said.

"Jarvis, we get an invite for that?" Tony asked.

"I have no record of an invitation, sir." JARVIS replied.

"But you got one?" Tony asked looking at her.

"Yep, and I'm going to be late." Vanessa said kissing the top of his head. "Try not to burn the house down while I'm gone."

"I promise nothing." Tony replied as Vanessa walked over and got into the Saleen S7 and took off. Tony turned back to the TV as he tinkered.

"... hasn't been seen in public since his bizarre and highly controversial press conference. Some claim he's suffering from posttraumatic stress and has been bedridden for weeks. Whatever the case may be, no one expects an appearance from him tonight."

"The render is complete." JARVIS said and a completely gold iron man suit was displayed on the screen.

"A little ostentatious, don't you think?" Tony said as he took a drink.

"What was I thinking? You're usually so discreet." JARVIS said as Tony looked over to his Hot Rod.

"Tell you what. Throw a little hot-rod red in there." Tony said.

"Yes, that should help you keep a low profile." JARVIS said as he re painted it. "The render is complete."

"Hey, I like it. Fabricate it. Paint it." Tony said.

"Commencing automated assembly." JARVIS said as Tony looked down at his watch. "Estimated completion time is five hours."

"Don't wait up for me, honey." Tony said as he got up and went upstairs to change.


	6. Chapter 6

Vanessa stopped in front of the building and the door to her car was opened for her. She handed the valet the keys and started to walk inside as she was bombarded with flashed of light and questions. The questions consisted of information about the company, what she was wearing, and about her dad, none of which she answered.

She nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt someone's arm slide around her waist. Looking up she found Loki wearing a dark dress suit with an emerald green scarf hung casually on either side of his neck smiling down at her.

"Loki." Vanessa said in surprise ignoring the new round of questions on who her mysterious date was.

"Hello little dove, you look beautiful." Loki said as he leaned down and gave her a quick kiss.

"You don't look too bad yourself." Vanessa said with a smile as they walked the rest of the way up to the party. "So what brings you to my little corner of the universe?"

"The idea of this party appealed to me greatly when you told it to me." Loki said moving his hand down so it entwined with hers as they walked through the crowd. "I like any chance to dance with you and hold you close."

"Charmer." Vanessa said as they started to lean into each other for a kiss.

"Vanessa, who's this?" Pepper asked as she came over breaking the moment and going into what Vanessa had dubbed her mom mode.

"This is Loki, my boyfriend from school." Vanessa said introducing him. She had told Pepper a little about him keeping the fact that he was from another planet mum. "Loki this is Pepper."

"An honor." Loki said as he bowed lightly. "Vanessa has told me a lot about you."

"Vanessa has talked about you as well." Pepper said with a bright smile. "It's nice to finally meet you."

They talked amongst themselves, Pepper mostly vetting Loki who was holding up remarkably well when they were interrupted.

"You look fantastic! I didn't recognize you." Tony said walking up to them.

"What are you doing here?" Pepper asked, surprised to see him.

"Just avoiding government agents." Tony answered.

"Are you by yourself?" Pepper asked.

"Yes." Tony said as he looked her over. "Where'd you get that dress?"

"Oh, it was a birthday present." Pepper answered.

"That's great." Tony said.

"From you, actually." Pepper said.

"Well, I got great taste." Tony said before turning to Vanessa and Loki. "So who's this?"

"Dad, this is my boyfriend Loki, Loki this is dad." Vanessa said as they shook hands.

"Boyfriend huh?" Tony said looking him over. "What do you do for a living?"

"Independently wealthy." Loki answered smoothly.

"Ok." Tony said before turning back to Pepper while making a mental note to look him up later. "You want to dance?"

"Oh, no." Pepper said shaking his head.

"All right, come on." Pepper said as he pulled her onto the dance floor despite her protests.

"You were right, they are oblivious." Loki said as they watched them walkaway.

"Yeah." Vanessa said as Loki took one of her hands and led her onto the dance floor pulling her close as they swayed.

"Hmm, they seem to be getting a little closer." Loki commented as they watched Pepper and Tony dance before stepping outside.

"They just need time." Vanessa said confidently. "So how go things on your end?"

"Well enough. Thor is as brash as always, running head long into danger." Loki said and went to relate one of their thrilling Thor induced adventures which had Vanessa giggling by the end.

"Miss Stark." One of the party organizers came up to her. "Some people are requesting that you sing. Will you?"

"Well that depends on my date." Vanessa said glancing up at Loki.

"I would love to hear you sing." Loki said with a smile. He escorted her up to the stage where she gave them instructions on what she wanted to sing. She turned back around facing the crowd as she took the mike stand in hand. Vanessa swayed as the music started up then taking a deep breath she began to sing.

I love you for sentimental reasons

I hope you do believe me

I'll give you my heart

I love you

And you alone were meant for me

Please give your loving heart to me

And say we'll never part

I think of you every morning

Dream of you every night

Darling I'm never lonely

Whenever you're in sight

I love you for sentimental reasons

I hope you do believe me

I've given you my heart

Vanessa swayed with the music as the instrumental interlude played sending a kiss to Loki who smiled back up at her with loving eyes.

I think of you every morning

Dream of you every night

Darling I'm never lonely

Whenever you're in sight

I love you for sentimental reasons

I hope you do believe me

I've given you my heart

Everyone erupted in claps and cheers as Loki helped her off the stage.

"You were wonderful love." Loki said into her ear before kissing her on her cheek.

"Thank you, it helps when I have inspiration so close at hand." Vanessa said with a playful wink.

"How about a drink?" Loki asked looping her arm through his and resting his hand on top of hers.

"Love one." Vanessa said as he led her over to the bar and ordered two drinks. They talked back and forth a little more before Loki suddenly straightened up and let out an annoyed sound under his breath. "Something wrong?"

"Someone at home is looking for me, I must go." Loki said in an irritated voice.

"That's ok, we can pick up where we left off later." Vanessa said as she wrapped her arms around him and he her.

"Sounds like a plan." Loki said as he leaned down and kissed her deeply. "Until later, my little dove."

Vanessa watched with a dreamy happy smile as he walked away disappearing amongst the crowd. She was sipping her drink when Tony came up to the bar looking a little twitchy.

"Two vodka martinis, extra dry, extra olives, extra fast." Tony said putting some money into a jar. "Make one of them dirty, will you?"

"You look a little unsettled." Vanessa commented, startling Tony.

"Hey, where's your date?" Tony asked looking around.

"He had to go. Family emergency." Vanessa said with a shrug.

"Wow. Tony and Vanessa Stark." Said a blonde woman Vanessa recognized from Vanity Fair.

"Oh, hey." Tony said looking uncomfortable. "Fancy seeing you here… Carrie."

"Christine." She corrected him.

"That's right." Tony said with a nod.

"I'm sorry, I don't believe we've met." Vanessa said with an overly sweet smile as she held out her hand.

"Christine from Vanity Fair, I did a story on your father." Christine said ignoring Vanessa's hand as she turned back to Tony. "You have a lot of nerve showing up here tonight. Can I at least get a reaction from you?"

"Panic. I would say panic is my reaction." Tony replied not making eye contact.

"'Cause I was referring to your company's involvement in this latest atrocity." Christine bit out.

"Yeah. They just put my name on the invitation. I don't know what to tell you." Tony said evasively.

"I actually almost bought it, hook, line and sinker." Christine went on and Vanessa could feel her annoyance rising.

"I was out of town for a couple months, in case you didn't hear." Tony said in a snarky voice.

"So cut the column short and just spit it out." Vanessa snapped.

"Is this what you call accountability?" Christine said as she thrust a small stack of pictures at them. "It's a town called Gulmira. Heard of it?"

"When were these taken?" Tony asked looking shaken.

"Yesterday." She answered.

"I didn't approve any shipment." Tony said as he looked over the pictures which included one of the Jericho missile.

"Well, your company did." Christine retorted.

"Well, I'm not my company." Tony snapped and stalked away looking really troubled. Vanessa turned back to Christine who had a triumphant smirk on her face which really irritated the crap out of Vanessa.

"You know they have a word for people like you, but it's not used in polite society outside of a kennel." Vanessa said evenly looking at Christine like she was something disgusting on the bottom of her shoe wiping the smirk clean off her face before following her dad out.

"Please, do you mind?" Obadiah was saying to the reporters as Vanessa came to stand next to her father.

"Have you seen these pictures?" Tony demanded. "What's going on in Gulmira?"

"Tony, Tony." Obadiah said as he looked between the two members of the Stark family. "You can't afford to be this naive."

"You know what? I was naive before, when they said, "Here's the line. We don't cross it. "This is how we do business."" Tony ground out and Vanessa began to feel sick to her stomach. "If we're double-dealing under the table... Are we?"

"Tony, your picture, please!" Someone called out.

"Let's take a picture. Come on. Picture time!" Obadiah said as he wrapped his arms around both Tony and Vanessa. Vanessa could feel her skin crawl at his touch. "Tony. Who do you think locked you out? I was the one who filed the injunction against you. It was the only way I could protect you and your daughter."

Vanessa and Tony watched with a mixture of deepest anger and deepest betrayal as Obadiah walked away.


	7. Chapter 7

"The 15-mile hike to the outskirts of Gulmira can only be described as a descent into hell, into a modern day Heart of Darkness." The reported on TV said. They had turned it on as soon as they had changed and come down to the basement.

"Simple farmers and herders from peaceful villages have been driven from their homes, displaced from their lands by warlords emboldened by a new-found power. Villagers have been forced to take shelter in whatever crude dwellings they can find in the ruins of other villages, or here in the remnants of an old Soviet smelting plant." Vanessa was sitting next to Tony as he adjusted the bolt on the wrist of his gauntlet waiting for him to explain his reaction to the name of the town.

"Recent violence has been attributed to a group of foreign fighters referred to by locals as the Ten Rings. As you can see, these men are heavily armed and on a mission. A mission that could prove fatal to anyone who stands in their way." The reporter went on.

"With no political will or international pressure, there's very little hope for these refugees. Around me, a woman begging for news on her husband, who was kidnapped by insurgents, either forced to join their militia..." Her father suddenly stood up pointing his stabilizer and firing hitting a light fixture.

"Desperate refugees clutch yellowed photographs, holding them up to anyone who will stop. A child's simple question, "Where are my mother and father?"" Tony started to take out the glass panes firing one shot after the other. "There's very little hope for these refugees, refugees who can only wonder who, if anyone, will help."

"Mute." Vanessa stood up and walked over to Tony who was starring angrily at the shattered remains of glass. She stood next to him arms crossed and waiting.

"The man who helped me escape, who saved my life, changed my life, was from that village." Tony said softly. He hadn't talked about his capture and Vanessa hadn't pressed him, not wanting him to relive those unpleasant months any more than he had to.

"What was his name?" Vanessa asked.

"Yinsen." Tony said causing Vanessa to startle. "You met him once."

"I remember, it was when I was ten at that New Year party." Vanessa said remembering the kind man who got her a root beer float.

"Yeah, he gave me some flak for that one." Tony said. "I have to do something."

"Then suit up, we have work to do." Vanessa said walking over to the computer station and started to start the system up.

"Thanks Vanessa." Tony said as he stepped into the center of the room and JARVIS started to suit him up.

"I've got your flight plan mapped out and up loaded. You're going in hot so be prepared." Vanessa said as she typed.

"Got it." Tony said as he took off out of the basement and into the sky. Vanessa prepared as he flew waiting for him to reach the town.

"I've pulled up an aerial view of the town." Vanessa said. "I'm sending it to you now."

"I've got it, I'm coming up to the town now." Tony said as he landed. She could hear the sounds of the fight over the comm. and was reminded of her own fights.

She brought a screen that allowed her to see what Tony was seeing. He took out most of them with his thrusters, but some of the men started to use body shields. A flap on his shoulder popped up as he automatically targeted the hostiles and took them out leaving the innocents unharmed.

"Where's the last one?" Tony said looking around.

"That wall over there to your right, he's on the other side." Vanessa said. Tony walked over and punched his fist through the wall grabbed the man and pulled him through the wall throwing him on the ground hard.

"He's all yours." Tony said as he took off in the air.

He flew over another part of the city looking over the Stark weapons that were there and was about to take them out when he was blown out of the sky.

"Dad?! What the heck was that?!" Vanessa said as he crawled out of a crater.

"A tank." Tony said as he stood up and it fired again barely missing him. "I think its time to test the missile."

"Fire when ready." Vanessa replied excited to see if it worked. Tony raised his right arm and fired a tiny missile and then started to walk away a loud explosion erupting from behind. "Hey, I wanted to see the explosion."

"It's cooler to walk away from explosions." Tony said as he took out the remaining weapons.

"You are such a dork." Vanessa said shaking her head. "Now hurry up and come home, I'm hungry."

"On my way." Tony replied just before his phone started to ring. "Hello?"

"Tony?" Rhodey said trying to hear over the sound of the wind.

"Who's this?" Tony asked, trying to hear as well.

"It's Rhodes." Rhodey said.

"Sorry, hello?" Tony said.

"I said it's Rhodes." Rhodey said a little louder.

"Speak up, please." Tony said.

"What in the hell is that noise?" Rhodey asked.

"Oh, yeah, I'm driving with the top down." Tony answered.

"Yeah, well, I need your help right now." Rhodey said.

"Por que?"Vanessa asked then slapped her hands over her mouth.

"Vanessa is that you?" Rhodey asked.

"Maybe, why do you ask?" Vanessa asked back and she could practically hear Rhodey rolling his eyes. "So what do you need help with?"

"It's funny how that works, huh?" Tony said.

"Hilarious." Vanessa said.

"Yeah. Speaking of funny, we've got a weapons depot that was just blown up a few clicks from where you were being held captive." Rhodey said knowing that they were up to something.

"Really?" Vanessa said in a fake curious voice.

"Well, that's a hot spot." Tony said. "Sounds like someone stepped in and did your job for you, huh?"

"Why do you sound out of breath, Tony?" Rhodey asked.

"I'm not, I was just jogging in the canyon." Tony said quickly as Vanessa face palmed.

"I thought you were driving." Rhodey said.

"Right…" Tony trailed of.

"I was driving to the canyon, where dad was jogging to pick him up." Vanessa said then quickly added on to her story. "You're on three-way calling right now."

Being Loki's girlfriend came with its advantages.

"You sure you don't have any tech in that area I should know about?" Rhodey asked.

"Nope!" Tony and Vanessa answered.

"Bogey spotted! Whiplash, come in hot." Someone said in the background.

"Okay, good, 'cause I'm staring at one right now, and it's about to be blown to kingdom come." Rhodey said.

"Bye Rhodey." Vanessa said quickly hanging up. "Dad, get out of there."

"On it." Tony said going supersonic, but the jets were still closing in.

"Oh shoot." Vanessa snapped. "Inbound missile."

"Flares!" Tony shouted the flares taking out the missiles. "Deploy flaps!"

"I'm calling Rhodey back." Vanessa said as the phone

"Hello?" Rhodey said.

"Hi, Rhodey, it's me." Tony said.

"It's who?" Rhodey asked.

"I'm sorry, it is me." Tony said breathing hard. "You asked. What you were asking about is me."

"No, see, this isn't a game." Rhodey started to get angry. You do not send civilian equipment into my active war zone. You understand that?"

"Rhodey you don't understand, it's not a piece of equipment." Vanessa said desperately as she tried to think of what to do as she typed.

"I'm in it. It's a suit. It's me!" Tony yelled as Vanessa managed to hack into their comms.

"Rhodey, you got anything for me?" Someone asked.

"Mark your position and return to base." Jet one said.

"Roger that, Ballroom." Jet two replied. Vanessa breathed a sigh of relief then saw where her father was hiding.

"Well crap." Vanessa said.

"On your belly!" Jet one said urgently. 'It looks like a man! Shake him off! Roll! Roll!" The jet went into a tight spin and Tony was thrown from the jet and into the other taking out the wing. "I'm hit! I'm hit!"

"It's confirmed. He has been hit."

"Punch out! Punch out!"

"Whiplash One down."

"Whiplash Two, do you see a chute?"

"Negative! No chute, no chute!" The second jet said.

"My chute's jammed!" Jet one yelled.

"Sir, I've got a visual on the bogey." Jet two said.

"Whiplash Two, reengage. If you get a clear shot, you take it."

"Dad, I think the second jet is going to re-engaging and the pilot it in a free fall, no chute." Vanessa said gripping the table white knuckled.

"I've got him." Tony said and started to dive for the pilot.

"Major, we don't even know what we're shooting at." Rhodey said. "Call off the Raptors."

"That thing just took out an F- inside a legal no fly zone! Whiplash Two, if you have a clear shot, take it!"

"You've been reengaged." JARVIS confirmed

"Execute evasive maneuver." Tony ordered.

"Keep going! You're almost there." Vanessa urged. Tony grabbed the man and punched the chute box allowing it to deploy.

"Good chute! Good chute!"

"Thank goodness." Vanessa said as she collapsed in her chair and her father cheered.

"Tony, you still there? Vanessa?" Rhodey asked.

"Hey, thanks." Tony said as he flew.

"Oh, my God, you crazy son of a bitch." Rhodey said with a laugh. "You owe me a plane. You know that, right?"

"Yeah, well, technically, he hit me." Tony said with a laugh.

"Hope you have good insurance." Vanessa added.

"Now are you going to come by and see what we're working on?" Tony asked.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, the less I know, the better." Rhodey said. "Now, what am I supposed to tell the press?"

"Training exercise." Tony said. "Isn't that the usual BS?"

"It's not that simple." Rhodey said.

"An unfortunate training exercise involving an F-22 Raptor occurred yesterday." Rhodey said on the TV.

"Well look at that, apparently it is that easy." Vanessa said as she stood in front of the TV.

"I am pleased to report that the pilot was not injured. As for the unexpected turn of events on the ground in Gulmira, it is still unclear who or what intervened, but I can assure you that the United States government was not involved." Rhodey went on to say

"Hey!" Tony said drawing her attention away from the TV and back over to him. He was currently trying to get out of the suit with little to no luck.

"It is a tight fit, sir." JARVIS said. "Sir, the more you struggle, the more this is going to hurt."

"Be gentle." Tony said. "This is my first time."

"Get a room." Vanessa said with a roll of her eyes that went wide upon spotting Pepper coming into the room.

"I designed this to come off, so... Hey. I really should be able to..." Tony said still struggling.

"Please, try not to move, sir." JARVIS said.

"What's going on here?" Pepper asked in a shocked voice. Tony turned to her as best as he could as JARVIS continued to try and remove the suit.

"Let's face it. This is not the worst thing you've caught me doing." Tony finally said breaking the silence.

"Are those bullet holes?" Pepper asked as Vanessa tried to sneak away, but before she could pass Pepper grabbed her and pulled her back in.


	8. Chapter 8

"Hey. You busy?" Tony asked, finally out of the suit and sitting at the computer station with Vanessa. Both had been read the right act by Pepper and had given her time to cool down. "You mind if I send you on an errand? I need you to go to my office. You're going to hack into the mainframe and you're going to retrieve all the recent shipping manifests. This is a lock chip." Tony handed her a USB. "This'll get you in. It's probably under Executive Files. If not, they put it on a ghost drive, in which case you need to look for the lowest numeric heading. Vanessa will go with you so if there any trouble, just ask her."

"We'll be in and out." Vanessa said confidently. "No problem."

"And what do you plan to do with this information if we bring it back here?" Pepper asked as Vanessa grabbed her red leather jacket pulling over her black tank top. She also wore a pair of dark skinny jeans that tucked into ankle high heelless boots with bronze studs.

"Same drill." Tony said. "They've been dealing under the table, and I'm going to stop them. I'm going to find my weapons and destroy them."

"Tony, you know that I would help you with anything, but I cannot help you if you're going to start all of this again." Pepper said shaking her head as she put the USB down.

"There is nothing except this. There's no art opening. There is no benefit. There is nothing to sign." Tony said getting worked up. "There is the next mission and nothing else."

"Is that so?" Pepper said. "Well, then, I quit."

Vanessa felt the air go tense and the awkwardness sat in as she switched from foot to foot watching the two go at it.

"You stood by my side all these years while I reaped the benefits of destruction and now that I'm trying to protect the people that I put in harm's way, you're going to walk out?" Tony said stiffly.

"You're going to kill yourself, Tony. I'm not going to be a part of it." Pepper argued.

"I shouldn't be alive, unless it was for a reason." Tony said. "I'm not crazy, Pepper. I just finally know what I have to do. And I know in my heart that it's right."

Silence fell as a look of understanding settled on Peppers face. She picked the USB and looked from Vanessa then back to Tony.

"You and Vanessa are all I have, too, you know." Pepper said before she turned and walked out followed by Vanessa.

-0-

Vanessa drove them to Stark industries and parked near the front. They walked in and rode the elevator up to the top floor.

"Everyone should be out for lunch right now." Vanessa said as the doors dinged opened and they were rewarded with an abandoned office floor. They quickly walked into the main office after checking to see if it too was clear. Vanessa stood behind Pepper as she got on the computer and plugged in Tony's USB then started to search the files.

"Sector 16? What are you up to, Obadiah?" Pepper said softly as she looked over all of the different information in the files.

"Click on that one." Vanessa said and a video of her father in captivity came onto the screen. She leaned over Pepper and typed in translate.

"You did not tell us that the target you paid us to kill was the great Tony Stark as you can see, Obadiah Stane..."

"Oh, my God." Pepper and Vanessa said at the same time.

"... your deception and lies will cost you dearly. The price to kill Tony Stark has just gone up."

Pepper clicked out of the video and started to copy everything down.

"So, what are we going to do about this?" Obadiah's voice asked causing them to startle. It took every ounce of Vanessa will power not to smash him repeatedly into a wall as he walked over and made himself a drink. "I know what you're both going through." Obadiah said as he swirled his drink and took a hit. "Tony. He always gets the good stuff, doesn't he?"

"Why not, he can afford it." Vanessa said carefully as she sat down on the desk moving the paper over the USB discreetly and making sure she was between Obadiah and Pepper at all times. Pepper switched the computer over to the screensavers hiding the copying that was still taking place.

"I was so happy when he came home." Obadiah continued. "It was like we got him back from the dead. Now I realize, well, Tony never really did come home, did he? He left a part of himself in that cave. Breaks my heart."

Vanessa tensed as he walked over on the other side of Pepper.

"Well, he's a complicated person." Pepper said. "He's been through a lot. I think he'll be all right."

"You are a very rare woman." Obadiah said. "Tony doesn't know how lucky he is to have you both."

"Thank you." Pepper said as she took the paper and USB at the same time standing to her feet. "Thanks. We'd better get back there."

"Catch you later Obi." Vanessa said as she followed Pepper to the door, her voice sounding more like a promise than a good bye.

"Is that today's paper?" Asked right before they reached the door.

"Yes." Pepper said as he walked over to them.

"Do you mind?" Obadiah said taking the paper.

"Not at all." Pepper said.

"Puzzle." Obadiah said with a smile.

"Of course." Pepper said with a nod.

"Take care." Obadiah said as they left. Vanessa made sure the door closed behind them as she rushed Pepper to the elevator and down the stairs reaching the lobby. Looking up she saw Obadiah starring down at them, he knew.

"Pepper, he knows, we need to get out of here." Vanessa said taking hold of Pepper practically pulling her along.

"Ms. Potts? We had an appointment." Never in all of her life had Vanessa been so glad to see Phil Coulson. "Did you forget about our appointment?"

"Nope, right now. Come with me." Pepper said also relieved.

"Right now?" Coulson said standing up and following. "We're going to have it right now."

"Yeah, walk with us." Pepper said.

"Okay." Coulson said still confused, but willing to wait for answers.

"I'm going to give you the meeting of your life. Your office." Pepper said as they walked.

Once they were clear of the building and had calmed down Vanessa pulled out her phone and dialed for her dad. He answered, but then a high frequency note sounded and nothing else.

"Dad? Dad, are you there? Hello?" Vanessa called out desperately, but then the phone went dead. She re-dialed, but got nothing. She dialed a different number and was answered right away.

"Rhodey!" Vanessa said gratefully into the phone.

"What do you mean, he paid to have Tony killed?" Rhodey asked as he listened to Vanessa. "Vanessa, slow down. Why would Obadiah... Okay, where's Tony now?"

"I don't know. He's not answering his phone." Vanessa said urgently. "Please go over there and make sure everything's okay." Vanessa paused listening to the answer. "Thank you, Rhodey." Vanessa hung up. "Rhodey's going to him now, but we need to get to Obadiah now."

"I know a shortcut." Pepper said and instructed Phil who was driving where to go. They arrived outside of the arc reactor and walked in.

"Section 16. Section 16. There it is." Pepper said walking over to the door and trying to open it with her card. "My key's not working. It's not opening the door." Phil came up and put a tiny black box on the door's lock. "Oh, wow! What's that? It's, like, a little device? It's, like, a thing that's going to pick the lock?"

"You might want to take a few steps back." Phil said as he pulled her over to the other agents. Rolling her eyes Vanessa reached out and placed a small shield over the lock bomb containing the blast.

They walked over opening the door and the agents poured inside. They walked down a flight of stairs to another unlocked door and cautiously entered guns ready. It was dark with chains hanging everywhere. An eerie blue white low light was the only illumination. They spread out looking over the room coming up to a crude suit.

"Looks like you were right. He was building a suit." Phil said looking it over. Vanessa looked closely at it realizing that something was off as she ran her fingers of the welding.

"I thought it'd be bigger." Pepper said.

"Something isn't right." Vanessa grumbled looking around until her eyes landed on a small computer and Agent was currently looking at.

"What's wrong?" Pepper asked.

"That's not factory welding, the whole suit it to crude to have been made here." Vanessa said as she walked over to the computer and started to type furiously. The others continued to look around for clues as Vanessa typed then her eyes widened in shock. "That wasn't the suit."

"What?" The agent next to her asked.

"That wasn't the suit." Vanessa snapped just as Pepper let out a scream. "Pepper!"

Vanessa ran over to her grabbing her hand and pulling her out of the facility as the agents shot at Obadiah. With her shields up she ran getting Pepper out just before Obadiah could get to them, having been too big for the door, once outside Pepper and Vanessa's earpieces rang.

"Vanessa! Pepper!" Tony called out.

"Dad." Vanessa said in relief.

"Tony, are you okay?" Pepper asked.

"I'm fine. How are..." Tony started to ask.

"Obadiah, he's gone insane!" Pepper said cutting him off.

"I know." Tony said. "Listen, you'd better get out of there."

"He built a suit." Vanessa said running a hand through her hair. Then the ground started to rumble as Obadiah forced his way up through the ground next to them.

"Get out of there right now!" Tony ordered.

"Where do you think you're going?" Obadiah said as he held out a large machine gun arm. "Your services are no longer required and one less freak in the world."

"Pepper, go, I can hold him off." Vanessa said as she formed her shield and got ready to fight.

"I'm not leaving you here!" Pepper said.

"I can handle myself now GO!" Vanessa snapped but Pepper didn't budge.

"So much for the little hero." Obadiah said and got ready to fire.

"Stane!" Tony yelled as Stane fired shifting from the girls to Tony, some of the bullets bouncing off of Vanessa's shield. Tony rammed into Stane and they crashed through the facility and into the highway.

"I love this suit!" Obadiah said as he listed a van over his head.

"Put them down!" Tony ordered.

"Collateral damage, Tony." Obadiah said.

"Divert power to chest RT." Tony blasted him back and caught the car.

"Power reduced to 19 percent." JARVIS said as Tony fell to one knee. The lady started to take off with Tony clinging to the hood.

"Lady!" Tony yelled, but she kept on driving until he fell and was dragged under the van. "No, no, no, no, no, no!"

Finally he came rolling out from under the car and skidded to a stop. Obadiah ran over to him using his rocket for a boost grabbed a passing motorcycle and his Tony with it. Then he proceeded to bash Tony into the ground.

"For 30 years, I've been holding you up!" Obadiah said. "I built this company from nothing! Nothing is going to stand in my way." Obadiah threw him into a bus. "Least of all you!" He blew the bus up and Tony was propelled into the air, but managed to catch himself midair. "Impressive! You've upgraded your armor! I've made some upgrades of my own!"

"Sir, it appears that his suit can fly." JARVIS said as Obadiah's suit started to take off.

"Duly noted." Tony said. "Take me to maximum altitude."

"With only 15% power, the odds of reaching that..." JARVIS started warn him.

"I know the math! Do it!" Tony ordered as they took off with Obadiah closing in.

"Thirteen percent power, sir." JARVIS said.

"Climb!" Tony urged.

"Eleven percent." JARVIS said.

"Keep going!" Tony replied.

"Seven percent power." JARVIS said.

"Just leave it on the screen! Stop telling me!" Tony said and was suddenly grabbed by his leg and pulled into Obadiah's grip.

"You had a great idea, Tony, but my suit is more advanced in every way!" Obadiah bragged.

"How'd you solve the icing problem?" Tony asked.

"Icing problem?" Obadiah repeated as his suit went dead.

"Might want to look into it." Tony said as he hit Obadiah on top of the head sending him hurtling back to earth. Suddenly he began to drop as well.

"Two percent." JARVIS said as Tony began an awkward stop and go descent. "We are now running on emergency backup power."

Her stumblingly landed on the roof of the arc reactor and started to take the suit off.

"Potts! Nessa!" Tony said.

"Tony! Oh, my God, are you okay?" Pepper asked as she and Vanessa shared relieved looks.

"Where are you?" Vanessa asked.

"I'm almost out of power. I've got to get out of this thing. I'll be right there." Tony said when Obadiah suddenly landed behind him.

"Nice try!" Obadiah said. Tony ducked the first punch and went to fire his stabilizer forgetting that he had taken it off before he was back handed. Recovering quickly he jumped into the air landing a punch across Obadiah's face only to get grabbed in the process.

"Weapons status?" Tony ordered.

"Repulsors offline. Missiles offline." JARVIS listed off.

"Flares!" Tony yelled and the flares shot out blinding Obadiah and giving Tony a chance to slip away.

"Very clever, Tony." Obadiah said as Tony hid on the other side of the stairwell.

"Nessa? Potts?" Tony whispered.

"Dad/ Tony!" They said in relief.

"This isn't working." Tony said. "We're going to have to overload the reactor and blast the roof."

"Well, how are you going to do that?" Pepper asked.

"You're going to do it." Tony replied. "Go to the central console, open up all the circuits. When I get clear of the roof, I'll let you know. You're going to hit the master bypass button. It's going to fry everything up here.

"On it." Vanessa said then pulled Pepper back into the building and up to the controls and got to work. "Pepper, flip those toggles up over there." Pepper ran over to the machines against the wall doing as she was told before coming back. "Almost done."

"Make sure you wait till I clear the roof. I'll buy you some time." Tony said as he came up behind Obadiah and ripped out some wires. "This looks important!"

Obadiah managed to grab Tony despite the hindrance and through him on the glass panes. Obadiah held up Tony's helmet which he had snatched during the struggle.

"I never had a taste for this sort of thing, but I must admit, I'm deeply enjoying the suit!" Obadiah said as he crushed the helmet and through over to Tony who was struggling to get up. "You finally outdid yourself, Tony! You'd have made your father proud!"

"It's ready, Tony! Get off the roof!" Pepper said as Tony struggled to his feet. Suddnely there was a spray of bullet fire and glass rained down on Pepper and Vanessa. Vanessa covered them with her shield and looked up fearfully to see her dad dangling on the frame. "Tony!"

"How ironic, Tony! Trying to rid the world of weapons, you gave it its best one ever!" Obadiah laughed.

"Nessa! Pepper!" Tony called out.

"And now I'm going to kill you with it!" Obadiah said as he fired a missile that missed. "You ripped out my targeting system!"

"Time to hit the button!" Tony yelled.

"You told me not to!" Pepper said.

"Hold still, you little prick!" Obadiah snarled.

"Just do it!" Tony yelled nearly falling.

"You'll die!" Pepper said.

"Not if I can help it." Vanessa said as she started to levitate.

"Where are you going?!" Pepper called out as Vanessa flew up.

"To save my dad." Vanessa said taking off.

"Push it!" Tony yelled and Pepper pushed the button as Vanessa shot up into the air grabbing her dad and forming a shield around them just as the arc reactor over load hit sending them both flying.

Obadiah was electrocuted and fell down into the reactor causing it to explode. Vanessa lay on top of Tony putting all of her will power into her shields as Tony held her close. The blast ripped through them, minimized by the shielding, but still painful leaving them both unconscious.

"Tony! Vanessa!" Pepper called out.


	9. Chapter 9

"You've all received the official statement of what occurred at Stark Industries last night. There have been unconfirmed reports that a robotic prototype malfunctioned and caused damage to the arc reactor. Fortunately, a member of Tony Stark's personal security staff..." Rhodey said on the TV as Tony read from a new paper and Pepper fixed up his face to look less beat up. Vanessa who had received a cut on her forehead was wearing a grey fedora to hide it. The rest of her injuries were hidden under a long sleeved grey dress and black tights with black high heels on her feet,

""Iron Man." That's kind of catchy. It's got a nice ring to it. I mean, it's not technically accurate. The suit's a gold-titanium alloy, but it's kind of evocative the imagery, anyway." Tony said as Pepper peeled off a band aid.

"As if your ego wasn't big enough." Vanessa said as she read over his shoulder twiddling with her necklace. "It doesn't even say anything about the awesome girl who saved your butt."

"Yeah, I'm the one with the ego." Tony said rolling his eyes as Coulson walked in.

"Here's your alibi." Coulson said handing him the note cards.

"Okay." Tony said.

"You were on your yacht." Coulson said.

"Yeah." Tony said, nodding along.

"We have port papers that put you in Avalon all night, and sworn statements from 50 of your guests." Coulson said.

"See, I was thinking maybe we should say it was just Pepper and me alone on the island and you could come up with another one for Vanessa." Tony said then yelped when Vanessa thumped him on the back of his head and Pepper ripped off another band aid rather harshly.

"That's what happened." Coulson said sternly.

"All right." Tony said.

"Just read it, word for word." Coulson said.

"There's nothing about Stane here." Tony said.

"That's being handled. He's on vacation. Small aircraft have such a poor safety record." Coulson said with a smirk.

"But what about the whole cover story that it's a bodyguard?" Tony said making a face. "He's my... I mean, is that... That's kind of flimsy, don't you think?"

"This isn't my first rodeo, Mr. Stark." Coulson said.

"It's called misdirection, they're just hoping no one looks to close." Vanessa said with a smirk.

"Right." Coulson said then turned back to Tony. "Just stick to the official statement, and soon, this will all be behind you. You've got 90 seconds."

"Agent Coulson?" Pepper called out stopping Coulson from walking away. "I just wanted to say thank you very much for all of your help."

"That's what we do." Phil said. "You'll be hearing from us."

"From the Strategic Homeland..." Pepper said.

"Just call us S.H.I.E.L.D." Phil said with a smile.

"Nice." Vanessa said with a thumbs up.

"Right." Pepper said with a nod. "Let's get this show on the road."

"I'll see you guys out there." Vanessa said as she to left and caught up to Phil. They stood in the back waiting for Tony to come out.

"And now, Mr. Stark has prepared a statement. He will not be taking any questions. Thank you." Rhodey said stepping aside for Tony.

"Been a while since I was in front of you. I figure I'll stick to the cards this time." Tony said gaining a small amount of laughter. "There's been speculation that I was involved in the events that occurred on the freeway and the rooftop..."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Stark, but do you honestly expect us to believe that that was a bodyguard in a suit that conveniently appeared, despite the fact that you..." Christine interrupted him.

"I know that it's confusing." Tony said cutting her off. "It is one thing to question the official story, and another thing entirely to make wild accusations, or insinuate that I'm a superhero."

"I never said you were a superhero." Christine said making Vanessa grumble under her breath.

"Sure you can't…" Vanessa said gesturing to Christine.

"No." Coulson said making Vanessa pout.

"Didn't? Well, good, because that would be outlandish and fantastic. I'm just not the hero type. Clearly." Tony said getting away from the cars. "With this laundry list of character defects, all the mistakes I've made, largely public."

"Just stick to the cards, man." Rhodey whispered pulling him aside.

"Yeah, okay. Yeah." Tony said straightening back up. "The truth is…"

"Uh oh." Vanessa said, knowing what was about to happen.

"I am Iron Man." Tony said and like that the media went hay wire. Vanessa looked over at a tight jawed Phil.

"Scale from one to ten, how much trouble is he in?" Vanessa asked. Phil made eye contact briefly before walking away and making a call as Vanessa let out a low whistle.


	10. Chapter 10

"Jarvis!" Tony called out as he and Vanessa walked in. Normally they were greeted by him as soon as the door opened.

"Welcome home..." JARVIS cut out.

"JARVIS? You ok?" Vanessa asked as they walked into the living room where they saw the silhouette of a man looking out the wall of window facing the sea.

""I am Iron Man." You think you're the only superhero in the world?" A voice said stopping them in their tracks. "Mr. Stark, you and your daughter have become part of a bigger universe. You just don't know it yet."

"Who the hell are you?" Tony demanded as he and Vanessa tensed.

"Nick Fury, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D." The man said turning around to reveal the features of a very intimidating man with a black eye patch. "I'm here to talk to both you and Vanessa about the Avenger Initiative."


	11. Chapter 11

"I am Ironman." Those three words changed the lives of the Starks and everyone associated with them exactly less than half a year ago. If Vanessa thought her life was hectic before it was even more so now.

Everyone wanted to know what it was like to have a hero for a dad, which was definitely a step up from what's it like to a have an alcohol abusing skirt chaser for a dad. Some people were even asking when she'd get a suit of her own.

Then there was what was happening right now.

"What's your twenty dad?" Vanessa asked into her earpiece as she stood in the wings of the stage.

"Coming down right now, just got to get through the…OW!…fireworks." Tony said having been hit by one of the colorful projectiles. "Are they aiming for me?"

"Hurry up." Vanessa said rolling her eyes. "We don't have all night."

"Your concern for my safety is overwhelming." Tony said sarcastically. "Coming in for a landing now."

He dropped in through the open roof landing in his customary pose then stood up his hands raised in the air. Robotic arms came up and took the Ironman suit off as the scantily clad dancers moved around behind him. The music came to an end with all of the dancers around him their hands outstretched showing the 'repulsers'.

"Ah, it's good to be back." Tony said as he clapped his hands together. "I missed you to."

"Blow something up." Someone in the crowd shouted.

"Blow something up? I already did that." Tony said with a self-confident smirk. "I'm not saying that the world is enjoying its longest period of uninterrupted peace because of me, I'm not saying from the ashes of captivity never had a better phoenix metaphor been personified in human history…" Tony said as he bowed his head slightly.

"I'm not saying that Uncle Sam can kick back on a lawn chair, sipping on an iced tea because I haven't come across anyone whose man enough to go toe to toe with me on my best day…" Tony said then Vanessa took her que and walked out on the stage.

"What about woman enough?" Vanessa said as she strutted across the stage with a confident smile wearing a long single sleeved silver fitted cocktail dress that reached down to mid thighs and strappy silver heels. "Because I think I could take you down a couple of notches."

The cheers erupted mixing with wolf whistles and cat calls as Vanessa flipped her long straight hair over her shoulder and stood next to Tony.

"I'm not too sure about that." Tony said as he out his arm around her in a hug.

"I love you Tony!" Someone shouted.

"Marry me Vanessa!" Someone else shouted. The cheers continued until Tony put up his hands silencing them.

"Please it's not about me, or her, or even you." Tony said taking a couple of steps. It's not even about us."

"Well then why don't you tell us what it's all about dad?" Vanessa said and felt a little bit of her soul die as she repeated these scripted words.

"I think I will. It's all about legacy, it's about what we choose to leave behind." Tony said as he wrapped his arm around Vanessa again. "What we choose to leave for future generation and that's why for the next year and the first time since 1979 the best and brightest men and women of the nation and corporation of the world over will pull their resources and share their collective data to leave behind a brighter future." The crowd burst into more cheering. "It's not about us, therefore what I'm saying if I'm saying anything is welcome back…to the Stark Expo." More loud cheering. "Now before I go any further I do believe we have a special guest."

"And who would that be dad?" Vanessa asked feeling like she was the straight man for a comedy act gone horribly wrong.

"Making a special guest appearance from the great beyond and to tell you all about it, please welcome my dad Howard Stark." Tony said and gestured up to the screen.

Both Stark's walked off stage as Howard began to talk. Once in the back Vanessa starred up at the screen and couldn't help, but to wonder what he would have thought of her. She glanced over to her side and noticed her dad was not there. She spotted him standing next to a table with some strange pager looking thing in his hand.

"What's that?" Vanessa asked as she walked over to him, but he slipped whatever it was into his pocket before she could get a good look.

"It's nothing, you ready to go?" Tony asked as Howard finished up.

"Yes, I need a nap." Vanessa said with a groan as she leaned against Tony. They followed Happy down the hall where they paused outside the doors.

"It's a zoo out there so watch out." Happy warned as he made sure that both Stark's were in his line of vision.

"Into the breach once more." Vanessa said before the stepped out and were instantly set upon by fans and reporters. They smiled and waved as they went along, her dad signing a few autographs and such. When they finally left the raging crowd behind they came up to their cars.

"That wasn't so bad." Happy commented.

"No, it was perfect." Tony said.

"Yeah, no one grabbed my butt this time." Vanessa said startling both men.

Vanessa laughed to herself as she walked over to her green Ferrari with gold accents listening to the men make plans for watching her more closely then they noticed the woman leaning up against Tony's car.

"Look what we got here, the new model." Happy said as Vanessa leaned against her car waiting to see what the woman wanted.

"Hey, does she come with the car?" Tony asked as they walked.

"I certainly hope so." Happy said.

"Hi." Tony said shaking the woman's hand.

"Hi." She replied.

"And you are?" Tony prompted.

"Marshal." She answered.

"Irish, I like it." Tony said.

"Please to meet you, Tony." Marshal said.

"I'm on the wheel. So you mind?" Tony asked as he circled the car. "Where you from?"

"Bedford." She said.

"What are you doing here?" Tony asked.

"Looking for you." She shamelessly flirted.

"Yeah? You found me." Tony said getting into the convertible. "What are you up to later?"

"Serving subpoenas." She held a white envelope.

"Yikes." Tony cringed as Happy reached over rand took the paper.

"He doesn't like to be handed things." Happy explained.

"Yeah, I have a peeve." Tony said.

"I got it." Happy said tucking it away.

"You are hereby ordered to appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee tomorrow morning at 9:00 am." She said.

"Can I see you badge?" Tony asked.

"You wanna see my badge?" She asked still flirting.

"He likes the badge." Happy said as she held it up.

"You still like it?" She asked.

"Yep." Tony replied. "How far are we away from DC?"

"DC? 250 miles." Happy answered.

"Vanessa we're taking a road trip." Tony called out.

"I heard, makes me glad I always pack an emergency overnight bag." Vanessa said as she hoped into her car and reeved the engine. She followed her dad as they peeled out of the parking lot.


	12. Chapter 12

"Mr. Stark…can we pick up from where we were." Vanessa watched as the world's most annoying man banged his gavel on the table trying to get her father's attention, but he was too busy flirting with Pepper who was motioning for him to turn around. Senator Stern was beginning to show his irritation. "Mr. Stark?"

"Yes dear." Tony said as he turned back to the council. The court room filled with laughter.

"May I have your attention?" Sterns ground out.

"Absolutely." Tony replied.

"Mr. Stark, do you or do you not have a specialized weapon?" Sterns asked.

"I do not." Tony answered.

"You do not?" Sterns said in a mocking tone.

"I do not…well it depends on how you define weapon." Tony answered.

"The Iron Man weapon." Sterns said.

"My suit does not fit that description." Tony replied as Stern sat forward thinking that he was going to trap Tony.

"Then how would you describe it?" Sterns scoffed.

"I would describe it by defining what it is." Tony answered getting annoyed at Sterns bad attitude.

"As what?" Sterns pressed.

"It's a high tech prosthesis." Tony said smoothly causing another bout of laughter. "That is the most apt description I could make of it."

"Mr. Stark, this weapon; it is a weapon." Sterns said in a know it all voice. Vanessa let out an exaggerated sigh rolling her eyes getting a glare from Sterns. Pepper nudged Vanessa in the side giving her a look.

"If your priority were actually the wellbeing…"Tony started to say.

"My priority it to have the Iron Man weapon turned over to the people." Sterns said. "To the people of the United States."

"Well you can forget it; I am Iron Man the suit and I are one, to turn over the Iron Man suit would be turning over myself which would add up to servitude or prostitution depending on what stare you're in." Tony said as everyone laughed and Pepper just seemed to become even more annoyed.

"Look I'm no expert…" Sterns started to say.

"In prostitution, of course not, you're a senator. Come on!" Tony said making the laughter escalate. Tony turned around holding up the peace hand sign with a smile until his eyes met Peppers who was shaking her head. He glanced over to Vanessa who was giving him thumbs up.

"Don't encourage him." Pepper said.

"But this is a joke. All that's missing is the bad punch line." Vanessa said crossing her arms.

"I'm no expert in weapons, but we do have someone here who is an expert; I'd like to call up Justin Hammer." Vanessa snorted loudly without meaning to and Sterns once again glared at her. "Our current primary weapons contractor."

"Never mind, the punch line just walked in." Vanessa deadpanned.

"Let the record show that I have observed Hammer entering the chamber and I and wondering; if and when any actual expert will also be in attendance." Tony said and Justin laughed into the microphone.

"Absolutely, I'm no expert." Justin said making Vanessa scoff loudly brining her up to three glares from Stern and her second elbow in the side from Pepper.

Justin glanced over at her his eyes roving her body and Vanessa felt like she needed an extremely hot acid wash just to get the feeling of his eyes on her left behind off of her. It was no secret that he had tried on more than one occasion to 'woo' her, but not only was he repulsive, slimy, and all around unbearable to be in the presence of he was also a complete idiot.

"Absolutely, I'm no expert, I defer to you Anthony. You're the wonder boy." Hammer said then stood back to his feet. "Senator if I may, I may well not be an expert, but you know who was the expert; your dad, Howard Stark really a father to us all and to the militarily and industrial age, but let's just be clear, he was no flower child, he was a lion, and we all know why we're here. In the last six months Anthony Stark had created a sword with untold possibilities and yet he insists it's a shield." Justin said. "He asks us to trust him as we cower behind it, I wish I was comforted Anthony I really do. I'd love to leave the door unlocked when I leave the house, but this ain't Canada. We live in a world of grave threats, threats that Mr. Stark won't always be able to foresee."

"Oh my…" Vanessa groaned quietly as she dug the heels of her hands into her eyes.

"Thank you, God bless Iron Man and God bless America." Justin said and sat back down to a splatter of scattered unsure clapping.

"That was well said Mr. Hammer." Sterns said while clapping.

"Seriously? A three year old could write a better speech than that." Vanessa hissed. Third elbow jab from Pepper who bit her lip to hide her smile.

"The committee would now like to recognize Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes." Sterns said and the turned to see said man entering the chamber.

"Rhodey?" Tony said turning in his seat and standing up meeting Rhodey half way as Vanessa watched. Pictures were taken as Tony and Rhodey shook hands exchanging a few brief words.

"After forming a complete report on the Iron Man weapon compiled by the Lieutenant Colonel Rhodes, Colonel for the record could you please read page fifty-seven paragraph four." Sterns said with a confident smirk.

"Don't forget the sentence number." Vanessa said in a loud whisper.

"That is enough Miss Stark. Unless you want to be escorted off the premises then I suggest you keep your comments to yourself from now on." Sterns said with a glare. Vanessa smiled a fake sweet smile and held up a peace sign.

"You're requesting that I read specific selection from my report sir?" Rhodey questioned drawing the attention back to himself.

"Yes I am sir." Sterns answered tearing his glare from Vanessa and trying to maintain his confident air.

"It was my understanding that I was going to be testifying in a much more comprehensive and detailed manner." Rhodey said.

"I understand, but a lot of things have changed today." Sterns said gaining back his control for the time being.

"You do understand reading a single paragraph out of context does not reflect the full report?" Rhodey said finally getting that he had been set up.

"Yes colonel I do." Sterns said getting impatient. Reluctantly Rhodey opened his report and began to read.

"As he doesn't operate within any definable branch of the government…Iron man poses a potential threat to the security of both the nation and her interests." Rhodey said haltingly. "I did however go on to summarize that the benefits of the Iron Man far outweigh the liabilities…and that it would be an interest to fold Mr. Stark into the existing chain of command.

"That's enough Colonel." Sterns said cutting him off.

"I'm not a joiner, but I'll consider secretary of defense, if you ask nice." Tony said smoothly. "Maybe we can mend the hours a little bit."

"I'd like to go on if I may and show the imagery connected with your report." Sterns said.

"I believe it is somewhat premature to reveal these images to the general public at this time." Rhodey said.

"Colonel I understand if you could just narrate those for us." Sterns said. The screens depicted a base of some kind taken from the sky.

"Intelligence suggests that the devices in these photos are in fact attempts at making copies of Mr. Starks suit. These have been collaborated by our allies from local intelligence on the ground and it's been suggested that these suits are in fact operational." Rhodey said as the screen showed different fuzzy pictures. Tony slipped out his phone and started to type. Vanessa also had hers out and was sending her dad the video she had acquired recently. He turned in his seat slightly and raised his eyebrow. Vanessa nodded with a smirk.

During one of Loki's visits she had told him about the government trying to get her dads suit and the annoying Justin Hammer that was constantly hitting on her. He had been more than helpful in gathering a defense for them disguising themselves and getting various videos of these other suits. It had been great fun.

"Hold on one second, buddy. Let me see." Tony said lifting his phone and pointing it at the TVs and started to hack them. "Oh boy I'm good. I come in different screens. I need them time for a little transparency."

"What is he doing?" Sterns said leaning forward.

"If you'll direct your attention to said screens, I believe that is North Korea." The machine toppled over shooting everyone in sight, blood sprayed across the screen.

"Turn that off." Sterns stuttered out and Justin jumped from his seat trying to do so.

"Iran." Tony said. This one blasted into the air then slammed into the ground then into the camera man. "No grave threats there. Hey Nessa, is that Justin Hammer?"

"It is." Vanessa said in fake shock. Justin suit turned a 360 and a crunch noise coupled with a scream sounded. Finally Justin yanked the plug turning the TV off then ran back over to his mike.

"I'd like to point out that test pilot survived." Justin said quickly.

"I heard he was in intensive care and would never be able to walk again if he survived." Vanessa called out loudly.

"I think we're done with the point that he's making. I don't think there's any reason..." Sterns said trying to recover, but it was all over.

"The point is you're welcome, I guess." Tony said nonchalantly.

"For what?" Sterns snapped.

"Because I'm your nuclear deterrent. It's working. We're safe. America is secure. You want my property? You can't have it. But I did you a big favor." Tony stands and turns to face the Senate. "I've successfully privatized world peace." Tony said and the court room erupted in cheers. "What more do you want? For now! I tried to play ball with these ass-clowns."

"[Bleep] ... you, Mr. Stark." Sterns called out as Tony blew kisses while leaving. "[Bleep] ... you, buddy."

Vanessa and Pepper followed Tony out as he continued to talk into the cameras and mikes.


	13. Chapter 13

Loki was showing Vanessa around Asgard in their shared dream. This was not the first time he had shown her the wonders of the eternal city telling her its history and showing her his favorite places to be.

"This is amazing." Vanessa said as he showed her the library filled with books and scrolls of all kinds and a tree that shown down beams of light filled with knowledge.

"It is my favorite place in all of Asgard." Loki said with a soft smile as he looked around until his eyes fell on Vanessa who had her back to him. He approached and slid his arms around her pulling her to his chest and burying his face in the crook of her neck.

"Will I ever get to see it in person?" Vanessa asked as she covered his hands that were clutched in front of her with hers and leaned back into him.

"One day I will bring you here." Loki said kissing her neck softly making her skin tingle. "I promise."

"Then I can't wait." Vanessa said with a smile as she exposed more of her neck to his attentions. "I'd like to meet your family."

"They'll love you, of that I have no doubt." Loki said turning her around so he could look into her eyes. When she looked into his eyes once, his expression was intense, making her legs feel weak.

Vanessa opened her mouth to speak, but before she could, he leaned down and covered her mouth with his in a hungry kiss. She responded immediately, as the warmth of his kiss spread through her. The caress of his lips were soft and sent sensations of pure love through her causing her heart to beat faster. He tasted tentatively with his tongue, and Vanessa opened her mouth with a low moan. Slowly he pulled away pepper her lips with soft lingering kisses before leaned their foreheads against each other in contentment.

"Are you sure that you're not called silver tongue for kissing." Vanessa asked softly with a giggle.

"If my tongue is silver then yours must be gold." Loki said as he captured her lips in another deep kiss.

"Charmer." Vanessa mumbled when he pulled back.

"So I've been told. Come on, I have many more things to show you before we wake." Loki said lacing their fingers together palms kissing and pulling her out of the library and down the hall.


	14. Chapter 14

Vanessa was in a pink sports bra with a purple loose shirt over it and blue yoga shorts doing her military designed workout as her father and Happy fought in the ring. She was currently on her set ups and was seriously feeling the burn, but pushed through the pain. The strands of hair that had come loose from her bun were plaster to her skin with sweat.

"The notary's here!" Pepper called out as she walked into the room. Vanessa rolled back and jumped to her feet stretching her back. "Can you please come sign the transfer paperwork?"

"I'm on Happy time." Tony replied. Vanessa walked over to Pepper grabbing her water from the table.

"Are you sure you're ok with this." Pepper said for the thousandth time.

"Pepper if I said it was ok five minutes ago then it's a safe bet to say that I haven't changed my mind." Vanessa replied with a smile.

"I know, I just don't want you to think that I'm taking anything from you." Pepper said nervously.

"Pepper, take it." Vanessa said then gestured behind herself to Tony. "Take all of it."

Pepper blushed deep red and opened her mouth to protest, but was cut off by the notary walking in which happened to be a rather attractive red head.

"I promise you this is the only time I will ask you to sign over your company." Pepper called out to Tony who was still in the ring with Happy starring at the red head.

"Hi, I'm Vanessa." Vanessa said holding out her hand. The woman took it with a smile.

"Natalie, it's nice to meet you Miss Stark." She replied shaking her hand.

"Call me Vanessa." Vanessa said. Natalie nodded and opened her binder for Pepper to sign.

"I need you to initial each box." Natalie said indicating the boxes. Pepper finished up about the same time Tony finished off Happy.

"What's your name lady?" Tony asked.

"Rushman, Natalie Rushman." She answered.

"Natalie Rushman front and center; come into the church." Tony ordered.

"No, you're not seriously going to ask…" Pepper started to say.

"If it pleases the court which it does." Tony cut her off.

"It's no problem." Natalie said as she walked over.

"I'm sorry, he's very eccentric." Pepper apologized.

"Which is a nicer way of saying her is crazy and childish." Vanessa said. Tony lightly threw one of his gloves popping her in the head. Vanessa picked it up and threw it back hitting his in the head as well then stuck out her tongue.

"Now who's childish?" Tony said with a smirk. Vanessa raised an eyebrow and Tony pouted. "Yeah, I know, still me."

Natalie entered the ring and she and Tony starred at each other for a time. Tony took a swig from his water bottle still looking her over.

"What?" Tony asked then stepped out of the ring. "Can you give her a lesson?"

"No problem." Happy said. Tony exited the ring and walked over to Pepper and Vanessa.

"Who is she?" Tony asked.

"She is from legal and she is potentially a very expensive sexual harassment lawsuit if you keep ogling her like that." Pepper answered.

"I need a new assistant, boss." Tony said then glanced over at Vanessa. "Since someone refused."

"I already take care of your eating and hygiene habits, plus I'm on alcohol watch." Vanessa said giving him a look. "Let someone else babysit you during working hours."

"Yes and I've got three excellent potential candidates." Pepper said. "They're lined up and ready to meet you."

"I don't have time to meet, I need someone now and I feel like it's her." Tony said.

"No it's not." Pepper said.

"You ever box before?" Happy asked.

"I have, yes." Natalie replied.

"What like the Tae Bo? Booty Boot Camp? Crunch? Something like that?" Happy asked.

"Bet you the Ferrari she kicks his butt." Vanessa said.

"You're on." Tony replied. "How do I spell your name Natalie?"

"R-U-S-H-M-A-N." Natalie answered.

"What are you going to google her now?" Pepper asked as Tony typed on the coffee table that doubled as a computer.

"I thought I was ogling her." Tony replied. "Wow, very very impressive individual."

"You're so predictable, you know that?" Pepper said, the little green monster rearing its ugly head.

"She's fluent in French, Italian, Russian, Latin. Who speaks Latin?" Tony asked.

"No one speaks Latin, it's a dead language." Pepper replied as Tony zoomed on some pictures of Natalie. "You can read Latin or you can write Latin, but you can't speak Latin…"

"Did you model in Tokyo, cause she modeled in Tokyo." Tony said.

"Well…" Pepper said nonplussed.

"I need her, she's got everything that I need." Tony said as Natalie turned watching them talk.

"Rule number one, never take you eye of the opponent." He reached out to touch her, but in an instant she caught his wrist twisting it then flipped him over wrapping her legs around his neck and dropping him then flipping him over onto his back in a choke hold. Pepper called out worriedly as Tony and Vanessa laughed.

"Happy." Pepper said worriedly.

"That's what I'm talking about." Tony said with a laugh.

"I just slipped." Happy said struggling to his feet.

"You did?" Tony said mockingly and rang the bell. "Looks like a TKO to me."

"Just…I need your impression." Natalie said as she came out of the ring.

"You have a quiet reserve. I don't know, you have an old soul." Tony said.

"I mean your fingerprint." Natalie said holding up the binder.

"Right." Tony said and put his thumb print on the paper.

"So, how are we doing?" Pepper asked walking over.

"Great, just wrapping up." Tony said as he finished making his thumb print. "Hey, you're the boss."

"Will that be all Mr. Stark?" Natalie asked.

"No/yes." Tony and Pepper said at the same time.

"That will be all, Ms. Rushman." Pepper said. "Thank you very much."

"I want one." Tony said as soon as Natalie was out of hearing range.

"No." Pepper said.

"Hey, you still owe me the Ferrari, hand over the keys." Vanessa said with a smirk. Tony reached up with his thumb wiping the black ink in her nose.

"Later." Tony said as she tried to get the ink off while grumbling under her breath.


	15. Chapter 15

Vanessa straightened out her blue sweetheart top mid-thigh length dress with shear lace over lapping it coming up to her neck, but leaving her arms bare. A red belt wrapped around her stomach above her waist and red ballet flats were on her feet. As always Loki's necklace and her charm bracelet were present.

She followed Pepper and Tony into the Hotel de Paris with Happy bringing up the rear the Iron Man brief case in hand chained to his wrist. The Monoco Gran Prix was today and Stark had a car in the race.

"You know its Europe." Tony said as they walked into the hotel dining room. "Whatever happens in the next twenty minutes, just go with it."

"Go with it? Go with what?" Pepper asked con fused, but Vanessa spotted her first.

"Hi Natalie." Vanessa said with a smile. Pepper was going to kill Tony.

"Like that." Tony said.

"Mr. Stark, Ms. Stark." Natalie said as she walked up to them.

"Hey." Tony said.

"Hello, how was your flight?" Natalie asked.

"It was excellent. Boy it's nice to see you." Tony said.

"Pepper's going to kill you." Vanessa said in a sotto sing song voice. Tony bumped her with his shoulder as they walked causing her to stumble a bit. She replied in a very dignified way and stuck her tongue out at him.

"We have one photographer from ACM if you don't mind." Natilie said as Tony took some drinks from a passing waiter handing them to Pepper and Vanessa before taking his own. Seeing that it was alcohol Vanessa put it on the tray of another waiter while Natalie took Pepper and Tony's drinks back. "Okay?"

"When did this happen?" Pepper asked stiffly.

"What?" Tony played dumb.

"Oh you know you went behind her back and hired someone when she told you not to." Vanessa said clasping her hands behind her back and rocking in her heels.

"Did I ask for nut shelling?" Tony said before facing Pepper again who looked quite peeved despite her smile. "You made me do it."

"I made you do what?" Pepper asked both of them talking through their smiles.

"You quit and Vanessa refused." Tony replied then faced them toward the camera. "Smile. Look right there. Stop acting constipated. Don't flare your nostrils."

"You are so predictable." Pepper replied.

"That's the amazing thing though. We still didn't see this coming." Vanessa said. "We really should have."

"Right this way." Natalie said coming back over to them.

"I'm going to get a soda at the bar." Vanessa said wanting to get off her feet. She walked over and sat down motioning for the server who brought her a Pepsi. She sipped on it as she watched Tony, Natalie, and Pepper make their rounds before they made it over to her at the bar still arguing.

"I'm telling you Pepper, just slap him." Vanessa said as they stood on either side of her and Pepper looked like she was considering it for a moment when they were interrupted.

"Anthony, is that you?" Justin Hammers unpleasant voice rang out making them all cringe.

"My least favorite person on earth." Tony said as they turned.

"Hey pal." Justin said clapping Tony on the shoulder.

"Justin Hammer." Tony said with a fake smile.

"How you doing? You're not the only rich guy here with a fancy car." Justin said.

"He's just the only one that people actually want to come." Vanessa said casually.

"And Vanessa, it is a pleasure to see you." Justin said taking her hand and trying to be suave by kissing the back of it. It was slimy and disgusting making her skin crawl violently.

"Never do that again." Vanessa said with a glare as she wiped her hand off with a napkin causing Justin to falter, but Christine walking up gave him an out for the awkward moment.

"You know Christine Everhart from Vanity Fair." Justin said gesturing to the blonde. "You guys know each other."

"Hi." Christine said.

"Yes, roughly." Tony said.

"We do." Christine said with a nod.

"BTW, big story. The new CEO of Stark Industries." Justin said.

"I know, I know." Christine said.

"Congratulations." Justin said.

"My editor will kill me if I don't grab a quote for our Powerful Women issue." Christine said. "Can I?"

"Oh, sure." Pepper said, but Justin cut in.

"And I'd also like to interview Vanessa on her father choosing the secretary to be CEO over her." Christine said with a venomous smile. She apparently took their last conversation to heart.

"Check your facts lady, I fully supported Pepper being CEO over myself. I'm not quite ready to take the reigns over from the old man." Vanessa said evenly. "By the way, how are things at the kennel?"

Christine glared at Vanessa who just smiled calmly back.

"She's actually doing a big spread on me for Vanity Fair." Justin said getting the subject back to himself. "I thought I'd throw her a bone, you know...I mean…"

Justin realized his mistake and tried to cover it up as Vanessa laughed behind her hand. A lot of people had overheard her conversation with the reporter way back when.

"Well she did quite a spread on Tony last year." Pepper said.

"And she wrote a story as well." Tony said making Vanessa roll her eyes.

"It was very impressive." Pepper said.

"That was good." Tony said.

"Very well done." Pepper said.

"Thank you." Christine said with a tight smile as Justin looked at her.

"I'm gonna go wash." Pepper said.

"Wait for me." Vanessa said.

"Don't leave me." Tony said, but they ignored him.

-0-

"I cannot believe him sometimes." Pepper said as washed their hands in the sink.

"Sometimes?" Vanessa asked with a raised eyebrow. Pepper just groaned as they left the bathroom and went over to their table and started to flip through the menus.

"What are you getting?" Pepper asked, but Vanessa didn't reply. Looking up Pepper followed Vanessa's shocked gaze to the TV where Tony was in racing gear.

"What's the use of having and owning a race car if you don't drive it?" Tony asked on the TV. Everyone cheered around him as the original driver walked off throwing his helmet down on the ground angrily.

"Seriously?" Vanessa breathed out.

"Natalie? Natalie!" Pepper called out and Natalie raced over to them.

"Yes Miss Potts?" Natalie said flustered.

"Did you know about this?" Pepper asked.

"This I the first that I've known of this." Natalie said.

"This cannot happen." Vanessa said shaking her head.

"Absolutely. I understand. How can I help you?" Natalie asked.

"Where's Happy?" Pepper asked.

"He's waiting outside." Natalie replied.

"Okay get him. I need Happy." Pepper said and Natalie ran off.

"Right away." Natalie said.

"It's already started." Vanessa said as the racers took off then it got worse. A man walked out onto the track and opened his jump suit. "Oh my…it's an arc reactor."

He produced to whips and the electricity burned off his top. He slashed a race car in half causing the crowd to gasp in horror as it flipped through the air.

"Are you sure?" Pepper asked as Vanessa gripped the table. "How is that even possible?"

"We need to get out there now." Vanessa said ignoring her question and shooting to her feet as soon as Happy walked in. "Pepper stay here."

"No, I'm coming." Pepper said and having no time to argue they both ran out to the car. Pepper jumped into the back while Happy took the driver's seat and Vanessa the passenger seat then they took off.

"Hold on." Happy said as they crashed through a barrier and onto the race track. Cars barred toward them and Vanessa reached out changing their trajectory so they would not crash into them.

"Give me the case." Pepper said.

"Here take it." Happy said as he pushed it back to them.

"Where's the key?" Pepper yelled.

"In my pocket." He yelled back.

"CAR!" Pepper shouted.

"On it." Vanessa said as she caused it to shift out of the way. Soon they came upon the scene wrecked cars and the man with the whips advancing on her father. "Hit him Happy!"

"What about Tony?" Happy asked.

"I got him." Vanessa replied.

"Right." Happy said and sped up slamming into the man as Vanessa lifted Tony out of the way and onto the fence. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." Tony said walked over to the car as Pepper screamed while Vanessa tried to calm her down. "Were you heading for me or him?"

"I was trying to scare him." Happy defended himself.

"Cause I can't tell." Tony shouted.

"Are you out of your mind?" Pepper screamed at him.

"Better security." Tony said.

"Get in the car right now." Vanessa shouted.

"I was attacked!" Tony shouted. "We need better security."

"Get in the car." Happy said.

"You're CEO." Tony said as he walked around to the other side of the car. "Better Security measures. This is embarrassing."

"Well next time we'll try to save your life in a cooler way, now get in the car!" Vanessa snapped as she turned in her seat.

"First vacation in two years." Tony grumbled. He opened the door just as a whip sliced through it cutting it in half. The rest was a blur of yelling and screaming as Happy ran into the man over and over again until the air bags exploded. Vanessa barely had time to jump out of the car when the passenger side was cut in half.

"Give me the case! Please! Come on!" Tony shouted and finally Pepper threw it out to Tony. It slid along the ground and Tony stopped it with his foot and bent over punching his hands into the case then lifting it up allowing it to cover himself in his special silver and red suit.

He pushed the car away with his foot as soon as the face plate closed and releasing the man. Vanessa leapt out of the way glad that she had worn her red ballet flats and watched the car skid away.

"VANESSA!" Tony yelled and Vanessa's head snapped around just as the whip man tried to hit her, but Vanessa was faster and darted out of the way and through up her shield just in time to intercept the second strike.

The moment the electric coil hit her shield it coursed through her causing her to be blown back by the feedback. She flew into the car and slumped down to the ground unconscious as Pepper, Happy, and Tony yelled her name.

-0-

Vanessa woke up slowly feeling extremely groggy and her head was pounding like a drum. She slowly took in her surroundings of the hospital room and saw Pepper talking to a doctor in the door way.

"Vanessa." Pepper said in relief as she ran over to her side hugging her.

"Hey Pepper." Vanessa said as she set up once released from the hug. "Is dad ok?"

"He's fine. How are you?" Pepper asked as she built up the pillows so Vanessa could sit comfortably.

"Fine, just a headache." Vanessa replied reaching for the water, but Pepper beat her to it and handed it to her. "Thanks."

"The doctor said you'd be ok, no concussion or anything." Pepper said as she fritted around the room. She could never sit still when she was nervous.

"Good to know." Vanessa said setting the glass down.

"Said you were quite lucky." Pepper added.

"Pepper, did anyone notice?" Vanessa asked and instantly Pepper knew she was talking about her powers. Glancing at the door to make sure it was clear Pepper answered.

"No, they just saw you almost get hit. They think that you ducked out of the way in time and it was electrical discharge that knocked you unconscious." Pepper said and Vanessa let out a sigh of relief.

"Where's dad?" Vanessa asked.

"At the prison talking to the man." Pepper said. "We're going to meet him at the plane as soon as you're released."

"Ok." Vanessa said with a nod. Pepper got the release forms as soon as Vanessa was cleared and they arrived at the plane the same time Tony did.

"I'm glad you're ok kid." Tony said as he pulled Vanessa into a tight hug.

"It will take a lot more than that to take me out." Vanessa said with a smile as the boarded the plane.

"Well you are a Stark." Tony said smugly.

"Yeah, I must get it from my mom's side." Vanessa said as Tony ruffled her hair.

"You better get some rest." Pepper said handing her a blanket.

"Sounds good to me." Vanessa sat down in one of the chairs and wrapped herself up tight before falling asleep the pills for her head ache having made her groggy.


	16. Chapter 16

Vanessa looked around the barren landscape in shock. It was dark and stormy the wind blowing harshly around her. The ground was a black rocky dessert with imposing mountains in the distance giving an overall foreboding feeling to the land. She could feel that Loki was there somewhere, but couldn't fathom why he had created such a place.

"Loki!" Vanessa called out as she quickly followed the steady tug that she knew would lead her to him. She found him sitting curled up on the ground as horrible sobs wracked his body. Vanessa ran over to him and placed her hand on his shoulder. "Loki, what's…?"

"Don't touch me!" Loki snapped as he scrambled away from her shooting to his feet. Vanessa also stood up confused and hurt by his reaction wrapping her arms tightly around herself.

"Loki what's wrong?" Vanessa asked softly, but he didn't answer and starred at the ground his whole demeanor stiff and on edge. "Loki, please tell me what's wrong, you're scaring me."

"And why shouldn't I." Loki said in a deadly whisper before he started to shout. "That's what monsters do, they scare people, so why shouldn't I?!"

Vanessa gasped at his rant flinching and taking an involuntary step back. Everything was silent as she starred at him in shock. Slowly she walked up to him taking both his hands in hers holding them tight so he couldn't pull away. He refused to look at her as tears poured from his eyes.

"Loki." Vanessa said rubbing the back of his hands with her thumbs. "Tell me."

"I can't, you'll hate me, I can't lose you." Loki said shaking his head as he crumpled back to the ground. Vanessa kneeled down and pulled him into a tight hug rubbing his back in soothing motions as he laid his head in the crook of her shoulder his hands gripping her waist.

"You will never lose me Loki." Vanessa said softly as Loki held onto her. They stayed like that for a little longer before Vanessa pulled back so they were looking eye to eye. She reached up stroking the hair from his face as he leaned into her touch.

"Do you love me?" Loki asked his eyes closed as Vanessa's eyes widened in shock, that he would even ask her such a question.

"Of course I love you. I love you so much that I can barely stand it sometimes." Vanessa said with a smile, then she became worried again. "Is that what you were worried about? You thought I didn't love you?"

"No it's not that." Loki said shaking his head then he took a deep breath and seemed to come to a decision. "Many things have occurred since last we saw each other." Loki said and then went on to tell her about Thor's banishment. "Before the All Father fell into his sleep he revealed to me my true parentage. I am not an Asgardian."

"Then what are you?" Asked Vanessa then gasped at the sight of his skin turning blue and the designs that were becoming etched into his skin. His hands were now cold in hers, and instead of looking up into his green gaze his eyes were ruby red.

"I'm Jotun." He said bitterly as she gently cupped his cheek with her hand wiping away stray tears with her thumb. He had told Vanessa of the race of Frost Giants and it was clear that Asgard held no love for their enemies. He leaned into it while closing his eyes as she continued to stroke his cheek. "I am a monster."

"No you're not." Vanessa said causing his eyes to snap open. He opened his mouth to protest, but Vanessa gently placed her fingertips over his lips silencing him. "You are still my Loki and the one I love."

A smile slowly replaced the look of disbelief on his face as he gently took hold of her wrist and placed a kiss on each of her finger tips then pulled her in for a real kiss. His lips met Vanessa's in a very feather light gentle kiss. He pulled back only inches looking into Vanessa's eyes as if to ask permission to proceed further, still slightly worried she would pull away from him.

Vanessa simply smiled reassuringly at him, and then his lips came crashing back down to her. She couldn't help but gasp at the sensation. He used this as his opportunity to let his tongue enter her mouth. Her body was trembling all over…the need to hold him…to be close to him was overwhelming her. He wrapped his arms around her…holding her tighter as if to show that he knew exactly what she was feeling.

Their breath ragged from the intensity of the kiss when they parted. His hand reached out to brush a strand of hair away from her face, cupping it in the process. Vanessa turned her face into his hand, slowly pressing a kiss into his palm. His breath hitched only slightly and his eyes darkened considerably, but he slowly pulled his hand away from her face and placed them back around her waist.

"So this doesn't bother you?" He asked with a nervous smile.

"Not in the least." Vanessa replied as she clasped her hands tightly behind his neck and pulled him into another deep kiss. When they pulled apart they still remained in each other's arms not wanting to leave the comforting embrace.

"I'm glad." Loki said as he started to turn back into his Asgardian form feeling like a great weight had been lifted. The landscape around them changed with the enlightened mood of the couple so that they were now in a full moon lit a lilac flowered field and a soft breeze caressed the air and stars twinkled above them.

"Anyway, didn't I ever tell you that blue is one of my favorite colors." Vanessa said with a sly smile making Loki laugh as he pulled her into another kiss, holding her close. They pulled apart once more resting their forehead against each other.

"I'm glad because before this happened I had been planning to ask you something and I find that I can no longer wait." Loki said as he pulled out a smooth round white box made of opal stone. "Will you marry me?"

He opened the box to reveal a ring with a band of silver with a beautifully circle cut diamond in the middle. Vanessa's mouth fell open in shock as a wave of excitement and happiness surged through her.

"Yes." Vanessa said nodding her head in excitement. "Yes, I'll marry you."

Loki smiled brightly as he brought her left hand to his lips and kissed her ring finger before sliding the ring on and hugged her close with a passionate kiss that left her knees weak.

"I love you Vanessa." Loki said softly.

"I love you to Loki." Vanessa replied nuzzling into his embrace. They stayed there in the field for the rest of their time together comfortably wrapped in each other's arms as they gazed up at the stars.

"There are things in Asgard that I must attend to. When things settle I will come for you." Loki said with a smile when they felt the tug of wakefulness.

"I can't wait." Vanessa said as they shared another loving kiss before they each returned to their worlds.


	17. Chapter 17

Vanessa stretched her hands over her head as she glanced over at Pepper and Tony then down at the plate.

"What the heck is that?!" Vanessa and Tony said at the same time.

"What?" They said together again. Tony got up and walked over to her taking her left hand in his.

"What's this?" He asked looking down at the ring.

"Oh that, well Loki asked me to marry him and I said yes." Vanessa said calmly then jerked in her seat when Pepper let out a squeal of joy and rushed over to her.

"Oh it is so pretty." Pepper gushed taking her hand and examining the ring.

"Hey, wait a minute, I don't remember him asking my permission, isn't that how it goes. They're supposed to ask the dad first." Tony said a little on edge.

"Yeah well he said he couldn't wait anymore and promised to talk to you soon." Vanessa said with a nervous laugh.

"Oh Tony, leave her alone. Loki is a great guy." Pepper said. Loki had often visited them and they had all got along great when Tony wasn't vetting him. "How did I not see this on you before? How did he propose? Tell me everything."

"Oh…uh…remember when he was last down and he took me to that new restaurant called Ever Rose? Well we were having a nice dinner and we danced the whole night through. We were sitting down at our table when the waiter brought out a small white cake with royal blue roses on it and a candy emerald in the middle." Vanessa said making it up as she went. "He took the emerald off of the cake and took me out to the garden patio kneeled down and proposed to me right there."

"Oh that is so beautiful." Pepper gushed. "We have to plan an engagement party."

"He said he'd come for a visit, but first he had to take care of some family things. Apparently his dad and brother had a falling out so he's trying to smooth that over, but as soon as he's done with that he said he said he's come." Vanessa explained looking down at the ring with a smile then looked up at Tony a little worried. "This is ok with you, right dad?"

"Well I guess." Tony said exaggeratedly then smiled and placed a kiss on her forehead. "Pepper's right, he is a good guy, I'm really happy for you."

"Thanks dad." Vanessa said in relief then glanced at the plate again. "What is that?"

Pepper started to laugh as Tony pouted, grumbling about wasting three hours which made Pepper laugh even harder as well as Vanessa.

Tony looked at the two of them as an uneasy feeling settled in his stomach as he placed his hand over his arch reactor while starring at the ring on his daughter's finger.


	18. Chapter 18

Vanessa had taken a trailer attached to her car and picked up her present for Tony's birthday swinging by and picking up Pepper on her way back home for the party. In the trailer was the finished Ironman pinball machine.

"He's going to love it." Vanessa said with a giddy smile. She was wearing a black empire waist spaghetti strapped halter top cocktail dress with silver accents and a handkerchief skirt that reached her knees. She let her hair fall free and was wearing her necklace from Loki and her charm bracelet as well as her ring.

She had not heard from Loki since his proposal and was starting to become worried, but he had warned her that he might not be able to contact her for a while until things had settled.

"Something that strokes his ego, yep he's going to love it." Pepper laughed bringing her back to the present. She glanced over at pepper who was holding her own gift to Tony in her lap.

"So you going to tell me or what?" Vanessa asked as they headed up the hill.

"No." Pepper replied. She had refused to tell Vanessa what she had gotten Tony despite her best efforts.

"Oh come on." Vanessa whined.

They went back and forth a bit, but Pepper refused to talk. They pulled up to the house and Vanessa ordered the valet to have some men take the pinball machine down to the garage where she would give it to him after the party.

They went inside and both of the stopped short when they saw Tony in the Ironman suit acting like an idiot.

"Dear lord." Vanessa breathed out as she face palmed. Pepper just shook her head and walked away Vanessa following.

"Hey Pepper, Vanessa." Rhodey said walking up to them.

"I'm going to get some air." Pepper said.

"What's wrong?" Rhodey asked.

"Come and have a look for yourself." Vanessa said leading him back to the living room.

"I don't know what to do." Pepper said.

"You gotta be kidding me." Rhodey said.

"I wish." Vanessa ground out as a drunken Tony fell into the bar and laughed.

"That's it. I'm making…" Rhodey started.

"No no no, don't call anyone." Pepper pleaded.

"Pepper…" Rhodey said. "This is ridiculous. I just stuck out my neck out this guy."

"I know, I know. We get it." Pepper said. "I'm going to handle it ok? Just let me handle it."

"Handle it or I'm going to have to." Rhodey said as Pepper walked over to Tony.

"You know the question I get asked most often is 'Tony, how do you go to the bathroom in the suit?" Tony said and Vanessa could only watch in horror as he showed them. "Just like that."

"You know he is reaching a whole new level of parent child embarrassment." Vanessa grumbled.

"Does this guy know how to throw a party or what?" Pepper said as she walked up and took the mike from him and the crowd cheered.

"I love you." Tony said drunkenly into the mike.

"Unbelievable! Thank you so much." Pepper said as Tony leaned on her. "Tony we all thank you so much for such a wonderful night, and we're going to say goodnight now, and thank you all for coming."

Tony instantly began to protest and Pepper removed the mike so no one could hear them talk. Vanessa felt her anger truly spike when her dad tried to kiss Pepper who as obviously refusing. Finally it seemed that Tony was listening as he exchanged the booze for the mike.

"Pepper Potts." Tony said as he stumbled. "She's right, the party's over. Then again the party was over for me like an hour and a half ago. The after party starts in fifteen minutes." The crowd cheered. "And if anybody, Pepper, doesn't like it, there's the door."

Tony gestured to the door and sent a repulser blast by accident shattering the glass. The crowd cheered and Tony roared. Then he started to shoot things the crowd threw at him. Vanessa quickly ran through the crowd grabbing Pepper and getting her out of the way.

"I'm only going to say this once." Rhodey said and everyone turned toward him in a silver ironman suit. "Get out."

Vanessa and Pepper ushered everyone out of the house as the sound of a fight broke out.

"Natalie." Pepper said as the woman ran up to them.

"Miss Potts." Natalie said.

"Don't you Miss Potts me! I'm onto you." Pepper snapped. "You know what ever since you came here…"

Rhodey and Tony falling through the ceiling cut off the conversation. Pepper backed away with a scream as Natalie took off.

"Pepper." Vanessa called out grabbing the woman and pulling her away from the fight.

"Come on you two, get out of there." Happy called out running over to them.

They watched as Rhodey and Tony fought viciously until Tony slammed Rhodey's head into a counter top. Then he turned to the crowd looking them over before he let out a scream that sent everyone running except for Vanessa who just stared at him. She shook her head and walked away without a backwards glance giving Rhodey time to his Tony with a sink bringing him back into the fight.


	19. Chapter 19

To say that Vanessa was pissed would be an understatement. She had stayed over at Pepper's for the night and when she woke up and asked JARVIS about her father she felt her rage snap. She was going to confront him about this midlife crisis of his.

She flew down the streets on her motorcycle to where JARVIS had said Tony was. She whipped into the parking lot of a doughnut shop gravel scattering and parked her bike. She ripped off her helmet chucking it to the ground as she walked toward the door only to be blocked by two men in black suits.

"I'm sorry ma'am, you can't go in there." One of them said. Now she knew something was up with him.

"You have three seconds to get out of my way before I land you both in intensive care." Vanessa said through gritted teeth as then men exchanged amused looks.

"Ma'am…" The other said as he laid a hand on her shoulder then faster than they could blink she stabbed each of them with her psionic blade causing to collapse in an unconscious heap on the ground as she walked in. She spotted her dad talking to Fury and Natasha in a booth seat and practically charged over to them.

"We secured the perimeter, but I don't think we should hold it for too much longer." Natasha said as Vanessa stormed in.

"DAD!" Vanessa growled.

"I thought you said you secured the perimeter." Tony said sarcastically trying to mask his fear as Vanessa charged up to him.

"What the heck was that last night?!" Vanessa fumed. "What is wrong with you? You blew up half the house and then ran off after you tried to beat the crap out of Rhodey. What the heck is your problem?!"

"You want to tell her or should I?" Fury asked looking directly at Tony who was staring down at his drink.

"Tell me what?" Vanessa asked glancing from her dad to Fury then did a double take. She grabbed Tony by the collar and forced his head to the side revealing his neck. "You have palladium poisoning! You said that you had fixed that!"

"Yeah, well I am, eventually." Tony said brushing her off. Vanessa felt the blood run from her face.

"You're dying aren't you?" Vanessa said quietly. "That's why you've been acting the way you have. You think you're going to die."

"I didn't want to worry you." Tony replied looking anywhere, but at Vanessa.

"You are such an idiot." Vanessa ground out. "I could have been helping you." Vanessa glanced over to where Natalie was sitting in a black cat suit next to Fury. "Oh don't tell me, you're an agent for him."

"I want you both to meet Agent Romanoff." Fury said wrapping his arm around Natasha.

"So I'm guessing Natalie is not your first name." Vanessa said.

"It's Natasha. I'm a shield shadow, once we knew you were ill, I was tasked to you by director fury." Natasha said.

"I suggest you apologize." Tony said eyeing her over his sunglasses.

"Telling someone to apologize after the crap you pulled is really not a good idea." Vanessa ground out as she grabbed a chair and plopped down in it.

"You've been very busy. You made your girl your CEO, you're giving away all your stuff, and you let your friend fly away with your suit." Fury listed off. "Now if I didn't know better…"

"You don't know better." Tony said annoyed. "I didn't give it to him, he took it."

"Whoa whoa, he took it? You're Ironman and he just took it?" Fury questioned unbelievingly. "The little brother just walked in there and kicked your butt and took your suit?" Fury turned to Natasha. "Is that possible?"

"Well according to Mr. Stark's database security guidelines there are redundancies to prevent unauthorized usage." Natasha said and Fury turned back to Tony.

"What do you want from me?" Tony asked.

"What do we want from you?" Fury asked as Natasha got up and walked off. "No, what do you want from me? You have become a problem, a problem I have to deal with. Contrary wise to your belief you are not the center of my universe. I have bigger problems in the Southwest region to deal with. Hit him."

Natasha injected something into his neck causing Tony to flinch.

"Ow, what are you going to do? Steal my kidney and sale it?" Tony said as Natasha moved his head so she could see his neck.

"With as much alcohol you take in? No one is going to want that thing." Vanessa said her arms crossed and still angry.

"Can you please not do something awful for five seconds?" Tony muttered to Natasha as the marks on his neck went away. "What did she just do to me?"

"What did we do for you, that lithium dioxide, it's going to take the edge off, we're trying to get you back to work." Fury said.

"Well then give me a couple of boxes of that stuff and I'll be as right as rain." Tony said shifting uncomfortably as Vanessa continued to glare at him.

"It's not a cure; it's just for the symptoms." Natasha said.

"And it looks like it's not going to be an easy fix." Fury commented.

"Trust me I know, I'm good at this stuff, I have been looking for a suitable replacement for palladium, I have tried every combination, every permutation of every know element." Tony said in an annoyed and tired voice.

"And I'm here to tell you, that you haven't tried them all." Fury replied.

-0-

"That thing on your chest is based on unfinished technology." Fury said as he and Tony say looking out over the ocean through a giant hole in the side of the house. Vanessa had taken one look at all the damage and then popped Tony upside the head.

"No it was finished." Tony said still rubbing the back of his head. "It had never been particularly effective until I miniaturized it and put it in my…"

"In your chest and then it slowly started to poison you." Vanessa snapped plopping down in a chair next to Tony. "That doesn't sound finished to me."

"Howard said the arc reactor was a stepping stone for something greater." Fury said leaning back in his chair. "It was going to kick off an energy race that would dwarf the arms race. He was onto something big, so big that it would make the nuclear reactor look like a triple a battery."

"Just him?" Tony asked pouring himself a drink only for Vanessa to take it and toss its contents over her shoulder. "Or was Anton Vanko in this too?"

"Anton Vanko was the other side of that coin; Anton saw a way to get rich, but when your father found out he had him deported." Fury said pouring himself a drink sipping at it as Tony shot Vanessa a look for not letting him drink. "When the Russians found out he couldn't deliver they shipped him to Siberia and he spent twenty years in a vodka fueled rage."

"Not exactly the best environment to raise a kid in." Vanessa commented ignoring Tony.

"That was the son that you both had the unfortunate experience of crossing paths with in Monaco." Fury said.

"You told me I haven't tried everything; what do you mean I haven't tried everything, what else haven't I tried." Tony asked,

"Howard said you were the only person with the means and knowledge to finish what he started, although he didn't know about his soon in coming granddaughter." Fury said with a shrug.

"He said that?" Tony said in disbelief and Fury nodded.

"Are you that guy? Are you?" Fury asked then leaned forward and tapped Tony's arc reactor. "Because if you are than you can solve the riddle of your heart."

"I don't know where you got your information, but he wasn't my biggest fan." Tony said as Fury leaned back again.

"What do you remember about your dad?" Fury asked.

"He was cold, he was calculating; he never told me he loved me…" Tony shifted uncomfortably glancing at Vanessa who was looking at him slightly concerned. He hardly ever opened up like this. "He never even liked me so it's a little tough for me to digest that he told you the whole future was riding on me and he passing it down. I don't get that; we're talking about the guy whose happiest day was when he shipped me off to boarding school."

"That's not true." Fury said shaking his head.

"Well then clearly you knew my dad better than I did." Tony said sarcastically.

"As a matter of fact I did; he was one of the founding members of SHIELD." Fury said glancing down at his watch as Vanessa and Tony exchanged surprised looks.

"What?" Tony asked.

"I've got a two o clock, you're good right, and you got this?" Fury said as two suits bought in a grey case.

"What's this?" Vanessa asked.

"You got this right?" Fury repeated as he threw on his jacket.

"What no." Tony said completely confused. "Got what, what am I supposed to get?

"Natasha will remain a floater at Stark with her cover intact." Fury went on ignoring Tony and Vanessa. "You remember agent Coulson right?"

"Yeah." Tony said nonplussed.

"Oh and Tony, I got my eye on you." Fury said starring Tony down before leaving.

"We've disabled all communication; no contact with the outside world." Natasha said as she to left. "Good luck."

"Pease." Tony said turning to Coulson. "First thing, I need a little body work. I'll put in a little time at the lab. If we could send on of your goon squad down to the Coffee Bean, Cross Creek, for a Star Bucks run or something like that, that's be nice."

"I'm not here for that." Coulson said. "I've been authorized by Director Fury to use any means necessary to keep you on the premises. If you attempt to leave or play any games I will tase you and watch Supernanny while you drool into the carpet. Okay?"

"I think I got it." Tony replied.

"Enjoy your evening entertainment." Coulson said as he walked away.

"Stinks to be you." Vanessa said looking over to Tony who was giving her the puppy dog pout. "You see normally that would work on me, but I have to go see what remains of my room that you partially blew up and clean up the rest of the house as best I can."

"Right." Tony grumbled. Vanessa glared at him then turned on her heel and walked up the stairs.


	20. Chapter 20

Vanessa managed to get most of the house cleaned up while Tony looked through the case Fury had left for him. Once she had finished she went downstairs to see how Tony was doing and found him watching Howard Stark on a projector.

He looked frustrated as he took a long pull from his drink the ice clinking in the glass as the screen went blank for a second then came back on. Howard walked over and leaned against the model arms crossed.

"Tony." Both Tony and Vanessa's eyes snapped up to the screen. "You're too young to understand this right now so I thought I would put it on film for you. I built this for you and someday you'll realize that it represents a whole lot more than just people's inventions. It represents my life's work. This is the key to the future." Flashes of the model played. "I'm limited by the technology of my time, but one day you'll figure this out and when you do you'll change the world. What is and always will be my greatest creation…is you."

Tony stared at the screen and jumped slightly when he felt a pair of arms wrap around him and a chin rest on top of his head. He reached up grasping her hands giving them a squeeze as she kissed the top of his head.

"I love you dad." Vanessa said.

"I love you to kid." Tony said. "I need a favor."

"How long do you want me to distract them?" Vanessa asked.

"That's my girl." He said with a grin.

-0-

Vanessa had been in the lab/ garage when Tony pulled in with the City of Tomorrow in his front seat.

"You see that? That is both illegal and unsafe." Vanessa said as Tony got out of his car. "How did they even fit to come down here?"

"I was worried for a second, but it worked out, mind unloading them?" Tony asked. Vanessa nodded and raised her hand. She pulled out one board at a time and Tony pieced them together. "JARVIS, could you kindly Vac-U-Form a digital wire frame? I need a manipulatable projection."

"1974 Stark Expo model scan complete sir." JARVIS said as the lights finished traveling along the model.

"How many building are there?" Tony asked as he raised the wire frame up and over to he center of the room.

"Am I to include the Belgium waffle stands?" JARVIS asked.

"He was being rhetorical, just show us." Vanessa said as she followed Tony trying to see what he was seeing. Tony snapped his fingers spinning the projection as he grabbed a rolling chair.

"What does that look like to you?" Tony asked.

"Not unlike an atom." Vanessa replied her eyes wide with amazement.

"In which case the nucleus would be here." Tony said pointing to the globe in the center.

"Highlight the unisphere." Vanessa said. Tony reached out enlarging the globe and looking thoughtful.

"Lose the footpaths, get rid of them." Tony said as he swiped them away.

"What are you trying to achieve sir?" JARVIS asked.

"He's discovering a new element." Vanessa breathed out.

"Correction, I'm rediscovering a new element." Tony said and started to flick away pieces of the model. "Structure the protons and neutrons using the pavilions as a framework."

Once it was complete Tony through up his hands so that it enlarged and encompassed them. They looked around them in wonder at the new creation.

"It's beautiful." Vanessa said.

"Dead for almost twenty years and still taking me to school." Tony said then clapped his hands together shrinking the atom so that he was holding it between his fingers.

"The proposed element should serve as a viable replacement for palladium." JARVIS said.

"Thanks dad." Tony said looking at it.

"Good old gramps." Vanessa added making Tony snort.

"Unfortunately it is impossible to synthesize." JARVIS said instantly making Tony and Vanessa smile.

"Nothing is impossible, the word itself says 'I'm possible'!" Vanessa said quoting Audrey Hepburn.

"Uh huh…get ready for a major remodel fellas. We're back in hardware mode." Tony said as he got up.

-0-

Tony bashed new holes in the walls of the garage and the ceiling as well as rerouting power while Vanessa unloaded the large coils. They set up the equipment and were just finishing up when Coulson walked in.

"Is this important?" Vanessa asked holding up some wires.

"Nah." Tony said as he looked over.

"Why are there always parts left over?" Vanessa said the shrugged and tossed them over her shoulder before getting back to work.

"I heard you broke perimeter." Coulson said walking over.

"Uh yeah, that was like three years ago. Where you been?" Tony smarted off.

"I was doing some stuff." He replied.

"Yeah us to and it worked." Tony said with a triumphant smile.

"Go figure right?" Vanessa said only to get a grease rag to the face.

"Hey I'm playing for the home team Coulson." Tony said ignoring Vanessa's grumbles as she threw the rag on the ground. "You and all your fabulous furry freak brothers. Now are you going to let me work or what?"

"Well if you want work this thing refuses to balance. We need something flat you know, just to give us that extra inch…" Vanessa said.

"What's this doing here?" Coulson asked picking up a Captain America shield prototype.

"That's it." Tony said putting down what he was doing. "Bring that to me."

"You know what this is?" Coulson asked.

"It is exactly what I need to make this work." Tony said taking it from him. "Vanessa lift the coil." Vanessa lifted it up as Tony slid the shield under it then checked it. "Perfectly level. What do you want, I'm busy."

"Nothing…goodbye. I've been reassigned." Coulson said as Vanessa dug through the grey box that had belonged to Howard. "Director Fury wants me in New Mexico."

"Fantastic, land of enchantment." Tony said.

"So I'm told." Coulson replied.

"Secret stuff?" Tony said.

"Something like that." Coulson said.

"Good luck." Tony said.

"Bye." Coulson said. "We need you."

"More than you know." Tony said,

"Not that much." Coulson said and walked away.

"Hey Coulson wait up." Vanessa said as she rushed up to him before he ascended the steps.

"Yes?" He said.

"Couldn't help, but to notice you might be a Captain America fan." Vanessa said as she handed Phil a large manila envelope. "Found this in the bottom of that grey trunk of Grandpa Starks."

Phil took it and opened it up causing his eyes to widen in surprise.

"This is a 1st edition Captain America comic." Phil said looking up at her in shock, in fact Vanessa was more that sure that this was the first time she had seen something other than that smirk of his on his face when he didn't look concerned. "It sold for 343K at auction."

"Then you better take good care of it." Vanessa said.

"But…" Coulson started.

"Coulson, my dad won't care about it and I'm not a comic book fan." Vanessa said and held up her hand when it still looked like he was going to protest. "Just say thank you."

"Thank you Vanessa." Coulson said with a smile.

"You're welcome Coulson, have fun in New Mexico." Vanessa said before the sounds of the particle accelerator filled the air.

"Vanessa get back down here, I need help." Tony yelled.

"That's my que." Vanessa said. "Catch you later Coulson."

"Goodbye Vanessa." Coulson said as they went their ways.

"You started it without me." Vanessa snapped as she watched Tony struggle to turn a wheel with a wrench.

"A little help here please." Tony said as Vanessa rolled her eyes. Reaching out she turned the wheel until it aligned with the core leaving behind a burning line.

"Whoops." Vanessa said as a loud noise from the core filled the air.

"Approaching maximum level." JARVIS said as it glowed brighter and brighter. Finally Tony flipped the switch shutting it down. It let out a pulse of light before it dimmed revealing the triangle core.

"That was easy." Tony said, cocky as usual. They walked over to the core and Tony lifted up with a pair of pliers examining it closely.

"Congratulations…you have created a new element." JARVIS said as Tony placed it in the reactor. Vanessa held her breath waiting for the result. "The reactor has accepted the modified core."

Vanessa let out a small cheer as she hugged Tony's arm.

"What are we going to call it?" Vanessa asked as Tony closed it up.

"I was thinking Vanesium." He said. Vanessa blinked as she turned to look at him.

"But that sounds like…" Vanessa trailed off.

"I want to name it after my greatest creation, I want to name it after you." Tony said with a smile as Vanessa's mouth hung open slightly remembering the words Howard had said about Tony.

"You are so corny." Vanessa said as she pulled him into a tight hug as he laughed hugging her back. "You could name it anything I'm just glad you're going to be ok now."

"Can't get rid of me that easy." Tony said kissing the top of her head.

"Who said I wanted too." Vanessa said.

"I will begin running diagnostics." JARVIS said as they separated.

"Yeah well I have to go get ready." Vanessa said.

"What for?" Tony asked.

"Pepper said it would be good for company appearance if I go to the expo for Hammers presentation." Vanessa said making a face.

"Have fun with that." Tony said.

"So much." Vanessa said sarcastically. "Catch you later dad."


	21. Chapter 21

Happy pulled up to the expo and Natalie opened the door for Pepper as Happy opened the door for Vanessa.

"Thanks Happy." Vanessa said as she adjusted her fitted dark blue long sleeved off the shoulder shirt with a black hooded draped vest over it, a silver scarf wrapped loosely around her neck, black skinny jeans, and black heelless boots. Her hair was up in a simple low bun with a sliver clasp. Pepper had frowned at outfit, but Vanessa refused to dress up for a Justin Hammer presentation.

""I'll keep the car down here alright?" Happy said.

"Thank you Happy." Pepper said as they walked up the steps to the Expo.

'Justin Hammer presentation will begin shortly in the main pavilion.' A voice over the speakers said.

"Oh joy." Vanessa grumbled sarcastically.

"It won't be that bad." Pepper said. They walked in and found there seats and not soon after the presentation started with Justin Hammer dancing badly across the stage to cheesy music.

"Yeah, that's what I'm talking about." Justin said stepping up to the podium.

"It's that bad." Vanessa dead panned

"Ladies and gentlemen, for far too long, this country has had to place its brave men and women in harm's way, but then the Ironman arrived, and we thought the days of losing lives were behind us. Sadly that technology was kept out of our reach." Justine said making Vanessa groan and roll her eyes. "That's no fair. That's not right and it's just too bad."

"Oh lord." Pepper breathed out.

"Regardless it was an impressive innovation, one that grabbed headlines the world over." Hammer said. "Today my friends, the press is faced with quite a different problem, they are about to run out of ink." Justin paused waiting for the laughter that never came. Two stage hands ran out pulling the podium away while Justin tried to recover. "Get that out of here."

"What an idiot." Vanessa said.

"Ladies and gentlemen today I present to you the new face of the United States Military, the Hammer Drone." Justin said the introduced each branch of the service that the drone represented. "Yeah. That's a lot better than some cheerleaders, let me tell you that." Hammer said. "But as revolutionary as technology is there will always be a need for man to be present in the theater of war. Ladies and gentlemen I am proud to present to you the very first prototype the Variable Threat Response Battle Suit and its pilot, Air Force Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes."

"What?" Pepper snapped.

"I am so unfriending him on face book." Vanessa said feeling more than a little betrayed as she watched them all salute.

"For America and its allies Hammer Industries is reporting for…" Hammer trailed off as a familiar sound of the Ironman sounded. Tony flew in and landed on the stage, instantly the crowd shot to their feet with a loud cheer and clapping.

"What is he up to now?" Vanessa said as she watched them interact on stage waving to the crowd.

Suddenly the drones took aim and Tony shot into the air their shots following shattering the glass then the air force drones followed. Vanessa didn't even think as she blocked the glass from falling on the people.

"We need to figure out what's going on." Natasha said walking up to the stage Vanessa and Pepper following.

They went backstage where Justin was freaking out trying to get everything under control.

"He's locked us out of the main frame." One of the men said.

"Who's locked you out of the main frame?" Pepper demanded.

"Please go away, I've got this handled." Justin said.

"Have you now?" Pepper snapped.

"Cause it sure as heck doesn't look it." Vanessa glared.

"If your dad hadn't shown up this wouldn't be happening." Justin retorted. So please, now go away. Thank you."

He turned back to the man at the console and spoke to him about getting rid of them. Vanessa snapped and before she knew it she had slammed Justin down onto the table with his arm pinned painfully behind him.

"You tell me who's behind this." Vanessa growled twisting his arm. "Who's behind this?!"

"Ivan. Ivan Vanko." He said in pain.

"Where is he?' Natasha demanded, but Justin didn't answer.

"Tell us where or I'll break your arm." Vanessa hissed.

"He's at my facility." Justin said. Vanessa pushed him away and turned to Natasha.

"I'll go, you handle things here." Natasha said surprising Vanessa that she trusted her, but nodded as Natasha walked away.

"I need NYPD please." Pepper said into her phone.

"No no no no sweetie." Justin said.

"Command central." Pepper said ignoring him.

"Don't call the authorities." He said.

"Okay, right away, right away." Pepper said into the phone. "Step aside."

"Justin back off now." Vanessa said pushing him out of Peppers way.

"Tell me everything you know." Pepper said to the man at the console as Vanessa shoved her jewelry into her purse and shoved it into Peppers hands then ran off. "Vanessa where are you going?"

"Those things are hurting people and I'm going to help as best I can." Vanessa replied as she took off pulling her hood up and wrapped her scarf around the lower half of her face so that it hid her face from view once she was out of sight. She looked down at her watch flipping it open to reveal a tracker then she tapped her ear piece. "Dad what's your location?"

"All over the place. Where are you?" He asked in an out of breath voice.

"Hold please." Vanessa said as two military drones approached. She smashed one into the other and repelled the fire of another away from civilians.

"Are you fighting?!" Tony snapped.

"Maybe." Vanessa replied. "Where's Rhodey?"

"Where in the garden, that Chinese looking one." Tony said. Then Vanessa saw all of the drones heading in the same direction.

"Dad all of the drones are leaving and headed your way. They're closing in." Vanessa said.

"Noted." Tony said then she heard crashing. "Got to go."

Vanessa pushed her fear back as best she could and set to helping trapped or hurt people. She had just helped a family get out from under some debris when she saw the different larger drone headed to the garden. She ran over to a bike and hotwired it in record time peeling rubber as she raced to the garden. She didn't even slow down as she smashed through the glass just in time to see who she assumed was Ivan slam Rhodey into the ground holding him down with his foot.

"Geronimo!" Vanessa yelled quoting her favorite Doctor as she slammed her bike into Ivan making him let go of Rhodey and flipping back out of the way, but Ivan wrapped his whips around both men.

"Let them go." Vanessa snapped her psionic knives blazing.

"Make me." He smirked.

"I got an idea." Tony said. "You want to be a hero?"

"What?" Rhodey said in confusion.

"I could really use a sidekick, put your hand up." Tony said and Vanessa felt her eyes widen.

"This is your idea?" Vanessa snapped.

"Yep." Tony replied.

"I'm ready I'm ready, go go go." Rhodey said as Vanessa dodged behind some rocks and through up her shield.

"Take it." Tony yelled when Vanessa was out of the way. They fired meeting in the middle causing a huge blast taking Ivan out. Slowly Tony and Rhodey stood up. "Vanessa?!"

"I'm ok." Vanessa said as she stumbled over ripping her scarf from her face so she could breath easier.

"Thanks for the save." Rhodey said.

"No problem." Vanessa waved him off as they walked over to Ivan.

"You lose." Ivan said and suddenly the reactors on the drones started to beep and blink red.

"They're rigged." Vanessa snapped.

"We gotta get out of here." Rhodey said.

"Pepper." Tony breathed out. "Get Vanessa out of here."

Rhodey took hold of Vanessa as they all took off into the air. Tony flew to where Pepper was grabbing her just in time as the drone near her exploded then took off to a roof top. Pepper pushed herself from Tony as he ripped the malfunctioning helmet from his face.

"Oh my…I can't take this anymore." Pepper said.

"You can't?" Tony said indignantly.

"I can't take this." Pepper said in a panicked voice.

"Look at me." Tony said gesturing to the battle damaged suit.

"My body cannot handle the stress." Pepper ranted. "I never know if you or Vanessa are going to kill yourselves or you're going to wreck the whole company.

"I think I did ok." Tony said defending himself.

"I quit, I'm resigning." Pepper said. "That's it."

"What did you say? You're done?" Tony asked, but didn't wait for an answer. "That's surprising, not it's not surprising I get it. You don't have to make any excuses."

"I'm not making any excuses." Pepper stuttered out.

"You actually were just making excuses." Tony argued. "But you don't have to."

"No I wasn't making an excuse." Pepper argued back all the while they were getting closer and closer.

"You deserve better." Tony said.

"Well…" Pepper trailed off.

"You've taken such good care of me and Vanessa." Tony said taking her hands in his. "I've been in a tough spot, but you got me through it, so…right?"

"Thank you for understanding." Pepper said.

"Yeah, let's talk clean up." Tony said.

"I'll handle the transition, it'll be smooth." Pepper assured him.

"Okay, what about the press?" Tony asked. "Because you only had the job for a week. That's going to seem…"

"Well with you it's like dog years." Pepper said.

"I know." Tony agreed before sweeping in and kissing her then pulled back trying to see her reaction. "Weird?"

"No it's not weird." Pepper said as they leaned back in.

"I think it was weird." Rhodey said alerting the couple that they were not alone.

"Me to." Vanessa said as she leaned against Rhodey who was sitting on an ac unit.

"You look like two seals fighting over a grape." Rhodey said.

"And thank you for that mental image." Vanessa grumbled as Tony and Pepper struggled to explain what had led up to this as Rhodey and Vanessa shared a look.

"You don't have to do that, we heard the whole thing." Rhodey said.

"You two should get lost." Tony said.

"We were here first." Rhodey said.

"Yeah, get a roof." Vanessa smarted off.

"You both kicked butt back there by the way." Tony said.

"Yeah you to, listen my car got taken out in the explosion and Vanessa needs a lift home, so I'm going to have to hang onto your suit for a minute, okay?" Rhodey said as he stood up.

"Not okay, not okay with that." Tony said.

"Wasn't a question." Rhodey said.

"Have him home at a decent hour." Vanessa said as she held onto Rhodey wrapping a shield around herself before they took off.


	22. Chapter 22

Vanessa sat next to her dad in a warehouse surrounded by screens waiting for Fury. She was looking over at a map thinking about Loki. He had finally managed to talk with her in her dreams again, but something was of. He seemed scattered and just off in general. He told her about the Odin sleep and how he was king now. All she could think about when she woke was a quote 'Absolute power corrupts absolutely.'

"I don't think I want you looking at that." Fury's voice snapped her out of her thoughts. He took a file for the Avengers away from her dad. "I'm not sure it pertains to you anymore." Then he held up the other file. "This on the other hand is agent Romanoff's assessment of you." Tony took the folder. "Read it."

"Personality overview, Mr. Stark displays compulsive behavior." Tony looked up. "In my own defense that was last week. "Prone to self-destructive tendencies…I was dying, I mean please. And aren't we all?" Tony said. "Text book narcissism…agreed." Tony relented. "Oh here it is: recruitment for ironman…yes! I gotta think about it."

"Read on." Fury said as tony took the folder back.

"Tony Stark not recommended." Tony said. "That doesn't make any sense, how do you approve me, but not approve me?" Tony asked. "I got a new ticker, I'm trying to do right by Pepper. I'm in a stable-ish relationship."

"What about me?" Vanesa asked leaning back in her chair. Fury handed her another folder which she read silently to herself nodding every once in a while before setting it back down. "Interesting, remind me to thank her later."

"What did it say?" Tony asked trying to get to the folder buy Vanessa slid it back over to Fury who tucked it away as Tony pouted. "So you don't want us, what now?"

"At this juncture we'd only like to use you as a consultant." Fury said as he got up and sat on the edge of the table. Tony was silent as he stood up and Vanessa followed. Tony shook Fury's hand holding it in both of his.

"You can't afford me." Tony sad then they turned to leave, but Tony stopped short. "Then again I will wave my customary retainer in exchange for a small favor." Tony said turning back around. "Rhodey and I are being honored in Washington and we need a presenter."

"And if we might make a suggestion…" Vanessa trialed off.

"I'll see what I can do." Fury nodded.

-0-

Vanessa smirked as she watched Sterns give the presentation speech. He had a look that was a cross between extreme constipation and anger.

"It is my honor to be here today to preset these distinguished awards to Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes and Mr. Tony Stark." Sterns said grudgingly. "Who is of course a national treasure."

"Thank you Lieutenant Colonel for such an exceptional and distinguished performance." Sterns said pinning the medal on Rhodey. "You deserve this."

"Thank you sir." Rhodey replied.

"Mr. Stark Thank you for such an exceptional and distinguished performance. You deserve this." Sterns stabbed Tony hard with the pin. "Oh sorry, funny how annoying a little prick can be, isn't it?" Then he posed with both of them. "Let's take a photo."

After the presentation was over there was a party and then the headed home which had been repaired enough to live in again. Vanessa instantly made her way to bed and fell into a deep sleep.


	23. Chapter 23

Vanessa knew instantly something was wrong when she entered her dream. The feeling was different and there was a tangible sadness that permeated everything around her zapping the previous happiness she had been feeling before she fell asleep. She was in a Greek style hall of some kind that ended in a balcony overlooking a massive golden city.

Standing on the balcony was a man she had never seen in person before. He was heavily muscled and had golden blonde hair. Realization hit her like a ton of bricks when he turned around to face her, his blue eyes shining with tears.

"Thor I presume." Vanessa said as she approached him. "How did you get here?"

"I know not, but I believe my brother had something to do with it." Thor said solemnly. "You are Lady Vanessa, you look as beautiful as the pictures my brother drew of you."

"Thank you, but where's Loki?" Vanessa asked, his sad demeanor making her feel worried. "Thor, where is Loki?!"

"He fell." Thor said looking away.

"What do you mean he fell?!" Vanessa asked sharply as she grabbed him and forced him to look at her. He shook his head not knowing how to tell her. "Thor, where is Loki?!"

"He tried to take over Asgard." Thor began hoarsely and the landscape around them changed as the events played out.

"What is happening?" Thor asked.

"You're showing me what happened." Vanessa said as she watched it all. When it was over she backed violently away from Thor giving him a scathingly angry look. "What is wrong with your father?!"

"What do you mean?" Thor asked confused and becoming defensive.

"Of all the things to say to him, when he is literally hanging by an emotional thread he says no! NO!" Vanessa exploded as she whirled around and started to stalk away. "Loki was right, Odin only saw him as a relic."

"Have care how you speak, my father is a great man and…" Thor started, but Vanessa whirled around a dangerous look in her eye.

"Your father is a blind fool and as far as I'm concerned he pushed Loki off that bridge. Loki knew you were the favorite and spent all his life trying to prove his worth to him and what does he say, he says no shattering all of his hopes with one word." Vanessa hissed. "And now the man I love is lost to me forever. I hope your precious father is happy."

Vanessa didn't say another word as she turned on her heel and left the dream. She blinked a few time orienting herself once she was awake. She turned over and curled up on her side as she started to sob.

She shot out of bed and started to grab anything she could with her powers and hands throwing them against the walls of her room as she yelled angrily. Debris swirled around her in an angry tornado causing even more damage to the room.

She didn't even register her door opening as Tony rushed in followed by Pepper. Tony dodged debris as he made his way over to his daughter. She continued her emotional rampage until Tony wrapped his arms around not letting go no matter how hard she struggled against yelling no over and over again.

"Vanessa calm down." Tony said as he held her close stroking her head as she sagged against him dissolving into violent sobs, everything falling back to the ground. Tony picked her up and carried her over to her bed and sat her down as Pepper followed both being careful of the debris littering the floor.

"Vanessa, what's wrong?" Pepper asked as she gently moved her hair out of Vanessa's face and using some tissue to wipe some of the cuts Vanessa had received.

"He's gone, he's gone." Vanessa kept repeating unable to say anything else as she clun g to her father's shirt. "He fell."

"Vanessa, it was just a bad dream." Tony said holding her close, but she shook her head and reached under her pillow pulling out her journal.

"Thor came to me in a dream and told me." Vanessa said brokenly as she handed him the journal.

Tony recognized the journal she had had since she was thirteen, never letting it out of her sight or anyone near it. Tony took it and opened up after sending her a concerned look. On the first page was a picture of a Loki laughing and it was dated a few years before Tony had ever even known about him.

"Loki? What happened to him?" Tony asked.

"He fell." Vanessa said in a strained voice.

"What do you mean he fell?" Tony asked.

"I never told you everything about him dad." Vanessa said as she looked down at the ground. "He was a Prince of Asgard."

"Asgard? You mean Norse mythology Asgard?" Pepper asked with a raised eyebrow as Vanessa nodded. "So when you said Thor? You meant the Norse god of thunder?" Vanessa nodded again. "So Loki would be the Norse god of mischief." Another nod from Vanessa

"When I first got my powers I would have these wonderful dreams with Loki, it was called Dream Telepathy. He was my best friend, but somewhere along the line that all changed to something deeper, but Odin had been keeping a secret from him about his true parentage. He was Jotun, a race of Frost Giants that are the mortal enemies of Asgard." Vanessa said wiping her eyes. "Odin had found him abandoned in a temple during war and planned on using him to unite the worlds later on."

"Ouch." Tony muttered. No kid wanted to be told he was only around to be a tool.

"That's horrible." Pepper said in a shocked voice.

"And to top it all off it was blatantly obvious that Thor was favored over him, the citizens of Asgard belittled him every chance they got because her valued strength of mind over physical strength, and then he finds out that he's nothing more than a bargaining chip." Vanessa said as the things in her room started to shake again with her growing anger. It just came out, like a breaking dam letting loose a river. She explained everything that led up to Loki falling off the Bifrost as the shaking in the room got worse then stopped suddenly. "We were going to get married and have a life together, now he's gone and I'll never see him again."

"Oh sweetie." Pepper said as she wrapped her in a hug causing Vanessa to let loose a new torrent of tears. Pepper and Tony spent the rest of the night with her as she cried never once leaving her side.

As time carried on Vanessa withdrew herself from her friends and family, and spent most of her time trying to find a way to Loki in hope that despite Thor's words he may have survived the fall, but she had no luck no matter what she did.

Over time she was slowly returning to normal, trying to accept that he was gone, but she could never fully lose hope. She also refused to take off the engagement ring feeling that it was her only real connection to him. There were times when she would start to cry for seemingly no reason or silently stare into space in the middle of something. She was never truly whole again, not without him.


End file.
